"Very good!"
"Maria, nothing could be worse! Nothing could be more shameful and disastrous. The Americans had evidently been expecting this useless bombast, and ere the words were well uttered, they answered them with a yell of defiance. I do not think more than one proclamation was necessary, but Morello went from point to point in the city and the Americans followed him. I can tell you this, Maria: all the millions in Mexico can not take their rifles from the ten thousand Americans in Texas, able to carry them."
"We shall see! We shall see! But, Roberto, you at least will not interfere in their quarrels. You have never done so hitherto."
"No one has ever proposed to disarm me before, Maria. I tell you frankly, I will not give up a single rifle, or revolver, or weapon of any kind, that I possess. I would rather be slain with them. I have never carried arms before, but I shall carry them now. I apologize to my countrymen for not having them with me this afternoon. My dearest wife!
My good Maria! do not cry in that despairing way."
"You will be killed, Roberto! You will be a rebel! You will be shot like a dog, and then what will become of me and my daughters?"
"You have two sons, Maria. They will avenge their father, and protect their mother and sisters."
"I shall die of shame! I shall die of shame and sorrow!"
"Not of shame, Maria. If I permitted these men to deprive me of my arms, you might well die of shame."
"What is it? Only a gun, or a pistol, that you never use?"
"Great G.o.d, Maria! It is everything! It is honor! It is liberty! It is respect to myself! It is loyalty to my country! It is fidelity to my countrymen! It is true that for many years the garrison has fully protected us, and I have not needed to use the arms in my house. But thousands of husbands and fathers need them hourly, to procure food for their children and wives, and to protect them from the savages. One tie binds us. Their cause is my cause. Their country is my country, and their G.o.d is my G.o.d. Children, am I right or wrong?"
They both stepped swiftly to his side. Isabel laid her cheek against his, and answered him with a kiss. Antonia clasped his hand, stood close to him, and said: "We are all sure that you are right, dear father. My mother is weary and sick with anxiety, but she thinks so too. Mother always thinks as you do, father. Dear mother, here is Rachela with a cup of chocolate, and you will sleep and grow strong before morning."
But the Senora, though she suffered her daughter"s caresses, did not answer them, neither did she speak to her husband, though he opened the door for her and stood waiting with a face full of anxious love for a word or a smile from her. And the miserable wife, still more miserable than her husband, noticed that Isabel did not follow her. Never before had Isabel seemed to prefer any society to her mother"s, and the unhappy Senora felt the defection, even amid her graver trouble.
But Isabel had seen something new in her father that night; something that touched her awakening soul with admiration. She lingered with him and Antonia, listening with vague comprehension to their conversation, until Rachela called her angrily; and as she was not brave enough for a second rebellion that night, she obediently answered her summons.
An hour afterwards, Antonia stepped cautiously within her room. She was sleeping, and smiling in her sleep. Where was her loving, innocent soul wandering? Between the myrtle hedges and under the fig-tree with her lover? Oh, who can tell where the soul goes when sleep gives it some release? Perhaps it is at night our angels need to watch us most carefully. For the soul, in dreams, can visit evil and sorrowful places, as well as happy and holy ones. But Isabel slept and smiled, and Antonia whispered a prayer at her side ere she went to her own rest.
And the waning moon cast a pathetic beauty over the Eden-like land, till dawn brought that mystical silence in which every new day is born. Then Robert Worth rose from the chair in which he had been sitting so long, remembering the past and forecasting the future. He walked to the window, opened it, and looked towards the mountains. They had an ethereal hue, a light without rays, a clearness almost polar in its severity. But in some way their appearance infused into his soul calmness and strength.
"Liberty has always been bought with life, and the glory of the greatest nations handseled with the blood of their founders." This was the thought in his heart, as looking far off to the horizon, he asked hopefully:
"What then, O G.o.d, shall this good land produce That Thou art watering it so carefully?"
CHAPTER V. A FAMOUS BARBECUE.
"So when fierce zeal a nation rends, And stern injustice rules the throne, Beneath the yoke meek virtue bends, And modest truth is heard to groan.
But when fair Freedom"s star appears, Then hushed are sighs, and calmed are fears.
And who, when nations long opprest, Decree to curb the oppressor"s pride, And patriot virtues fire the breast, Who shall the generous ardor chide?
What shall withstand the great decree, When a brave nation will be free?
It is flesh and blood that makes husbands and wives, fathers and children, and for the next few days these ties were sorely wounded in Robert Worth"s house. The Senora was what Rachela called "difficult." In reality, she was angry and sullen. At such times she always went early to ma.s.s, said many prayers, and still further irritated herself by unnecessary fasting. But there are few homes which totally escape the visitations of this "pious temper" in some form or other. And no creed modifies it; the strict Calvinist and strict Catholic are equally disagreeable while under its influence.
Besides, the Senora, like the ill-tempered prophet, thought she "did well to be angry." She imagined herself deserted and betrayed in all her tenderest feelings, her husband a rebel, her home made desolate, her sons and daughters supporting their father"s imprudent views. She could only see one alternative before her; she must choose between her country and her religion, or her husband and children.
True, she had not yet heard from her sons, but she would listen to none of Rachela"s hopes regarding them. Thomas had always said yes to all his father"s opinions. How could she expect anything from John when he was being carefully trained in the very principles which everywhere made the Americans so irritating to the Mexican government.
Her husband and Antonia she would not see. Isabel she received in her darkened room, with pa.s.sionate weeping and many reproaches. The unhappy husband had expected this trouble at the outset. It was one of those domestic thorns which fester and hamper, but to which the very best of men have to submit. He could only send pleasant and affectionate messages by Rachela, knowing that Rachela would deliver them with her own modifications of tone and manner.
"The Senor sends his great love to the Senora. Grace of Mary! If he would do a little as the most wise and tender of spouses wishes him!
That would be for the good fortune of every one.
"Ah, Rachela, my heart is broken! Bring me my mantilla. I will go to early ma.s.s, when one"s husband and children forsake them, who, then, is possible but the Holy Mother?
"My Senora, you will take cold; the morning is chill; besides, I have to say the streets will be full of those insolent Americans."
"I shall be glad to take cold, perhaps even to die. And the Americans do not offend women. Even the devil has his good points."
"Holy Virgin! Offend women! They do not even think us worth looking at. But then it is an intolerable offence to see them standing in our streets, as if they had made the whole land."
But this morning, early as it was, the streets were empty of Americans.
There had been hundreds of them there at the proclamation; there was not one to be seen twelve hours afterwards. But at the princ.i.p.al rendezvous of the city, and on the very walls of the Alamo, they had left this characteristic notice:
"To SANTA ANNA:
"If you want our arms-take them.
"TEN THOUSAND AMERICAN TEXANS."
Robert Worth saw it with an irrepressible emotion of pride and satisfaction. He had faithfully fulfilled his promise to his conscience, and, with his rifle across his shoulder, and his revolvers and knife in his belt, was taking the road to his office with a somewhat marked deliberation. He was yet a remarkably handsome man; and what man is there that a rifle does not give a kind of n.o.bility to? With an up-head carriage and the light of his soul in his face, he trod the narrow, uneven street like a soldier full of enthusiasm at his own commission.
No one interfered with his solitary parade. He perceived, indeed, a marked approval of it. The Zavalas, Navarros. Garcias, and other prominent citizens, addressed him with but a slightly repressed sympathy. They directed his attention with meaning looks to the counter-proclamation of the Americans. They made him understand by the pressure of their hands that they also were on the side of liberty.
As he did not hurry, he met several officers, but they wisely affected not to see what they did not wish to see. For Doctor Worth was a person to whom very wide lat.i.tude might be given. To both the military and the civilians his skill was a necessity. The att.i.tude he had taken was privately discussed, but no one publicly acted or even commented upon it. Perhaps he was a little disappointed at this. He had come to a point when a frank avowal of his opinions would be a genuine satisfaction; when, in fact, his long-repressed national feeling was imperious.
On the third morning, as he crossed the Plaza, some one called him. The voice made his heart leap; his whole nature responded to it like the strings of a harp to the sweep of a skilful hand. He turned quickly, and saw two young men galloping towards him. The foremost figure was his son--his beloved youngest son--whom he had just been thinking of as well out of danger, safe and happy in the peaceful halls of Columbia. And lo!
here he was in the very home of the enemy; and he was glad of it.
"Why, Jack!" he cried; "Why, Jack, my boy! I never thought of you here."
He had his hand on the lad"s shoulder, and was gazing into his bright face with tears and smiles and happy wonder.
"Father, I had to come. And there are plenty more coming. And here is my other self--the best fellow that ever lived: Darius Grant. "Dare"
we call him, father, for there is not anything he won"t venture if he thinks it worth the winning. And how is mi madre and Antonia, and Iza?
And isn"t it jolly to see you with a rifle?"
"Well, Dare; well, Jack; you are both welcome; never so welcome to Texas as at this hour. Come home at once and, refresh yourselves."
There was so much to tell that at first the conversation was in fragments and exclamations, and the voices of the two young men, pitched high and clear in their excitement, went far before them as if impatient of their welcome. Antonia heard them first. She was on the balcony, standing thoughtful and attent. It seemed to her as if in those days she was always listening. Jack"s voice was the loudest, but she heard Dare"s first. It vibrated in midair and fell upon her consciousness, clear and sweet as a far-away bell.
"That is Dare"s voice--HERE."
She leaned forward, her soul hearkened after the vibrations, and again they called her. With swift steps she reached the open door. Rachela sat in her chair within it.
"The Senorita had better remain within," she said, sullenly; "the sun grows hot."
"Let me pa.s.s, Rachela, I am in a hurry."