contributed Colonel Erhaupt. "I met him at Zanzibar. What does he want with us?"
"He was in Yokohama when the j.a.panese-Chinese war broke out," said Kalonay, turning to the King, "and he cabled a London paper he would follow the war for it if they paid him a hundred a week. He meant American dollars, but they thought he meant pounds, so they cabled back that they"d pay one-half that sum. He answered, "One hundred or nothing," and they finally a.s.sented to that, and he started; and when the first week"s remittance arrived, and he received five hundred dollars instead of the one hundred he expected, he sent back the difference."
"What a remarkable young man!" exclaimed the King. "He is much too good for daily wear. We don"t want anyone like that around here, do we?"
"I know Mr. Gordon very well," said Miss Carson. "He lived in San Francis...o...b..fore he came East. He was always at our house, and was a great friend of the family; wasn"t he, mother? We haven"t seen him for two years now, but I know he wouldn"t spoil our plans for the sake of his paper, if he knew we were in earnest, if he understood that everything depended upon its being kept a secret."
"We are not certain that he knows anything," the King urged. "He may not have come here to see us. I think Father Paul should talk with him first."
"I was going to suggest," said Miss Carson, with some hesitation, "that if I spoke to him I might be able to put it to him in such a way that he would see how necessary it----"
"Oh, excellent!" exclaimed the King, eagerly, and rising to his feet; "if you only would be so kind, Miss Carson."
Kalonay, misunderstanding the situation altogether, fastened his eyes upon the table and did not speak.
"He has not come to see you, Patricia," said Mrs. Carson, quietly.
"He does not know that I am here," Miss Carson answered; "but I"m sure if he did he would be very glad to see us again. And if we do see him we can make him promise not to do anything that might interfere with our plans. Won"t you let me speak to him, mother?"
Mrs. Carson turned uncertainly to the priest for direction, and his glance apparently rea.s.sured her, for she rose, though still with a troubled countenance, and the two women left the room together, the men standing regarding each other anxiously across the table. When they had gone the King lit a cigarette and, turning his back on his companions, puffed at it nervously in silence. Kalonay sat moodily studying the pattern on the plate before him, and the others whispered together at the farther end of the table.
When Miss Carson and her mother stepped out upon the terrace, the American was standing with his back toward them and was speaking to the guards who sat cross-legged at the top of the steps. They showed no sign of surprise at the fact of his addressing them in their own tongue further than that they answered him with a show of respect which they had not exhibited toward those they protected. The American turned as he heard the footsteps behind him, and, after a startled look of astonishment, hurried toward the two women, exclaiming, with every expression of pleasure.
"I had no idea you were stopping here," he said, after the first greetings were over. "I thought you were somewhere on the Continent.
I am so glad I caught you. It seems centuries since I saw you last.
You"re looking very well, Mrs. Carson--and as for Patty--I am almost afraid of her--I"ve been hearing all sorts of things about you lately, Patty," he went on, turning a smiling countenance toward the girl.
"About your engagements to princes and dukes--all sorts of disturbing rumors. What a terrible swell you"ve grown to be. I hardly recognize you at all, Mrs. Carson. It isn"t possible this is the same young girl I used to take buggy riding on Sunday evenings?"
"Indeed, it is not. I wish it were," said Mrs. Carson, plaintively, sinking into a chair. "I"m glad to see you"re not changed, Archie,"
she added, with a sigh.
"Why, he"s very much changed, mother," the girl said. "He"s taller, and, in comparison with what he was, he"s almost wasted away, and so sunburned I hardly knew him. Except round the forehead," she added, mockingly, "and I suppose the sun couldn"t burn there because of the laurel-wreaths. I hear they bring them to you fresh every morning."
"They"re better than coronets, at any rate," Gordon answered, with a nod. "They"re not so common. And if I"m wasted away, can you wonder?
How long has it been since I saw you, Patty?"
"No, I"m wrong, he"s not changed," Miss Carson said dryly, as she seated herself beside her mother.
"How do you two come to be stopping here?" the young man asked. "I thought this hotel had been turned over to King Louis?"
"It has," Mrs. Carson answered. "We are staying at the Continental, on the hill there. We are only here for breakfast. He asked us to breakfast."
"He?" repeated Gordon, with an incredulous smile. "Who? Not the King--not that blackguard?"
Miss Carson raised her head, and stared at him in silence, and her mother gave a little gasp, apparently of relief and satisfaction.
"Yes," Miss Carson answered at last, coldly. "We are breakfasting with him. What do you know against him?"
Gordon stared at her with such genuine astonishment that the girl lowered her eyes, and, bending forward in her chair, twirled her parasol nervously between her fingers.
"What do I know against him? Why, Patty!" he exclaimed. "How did you meet him, in Heaven"s name?" he asked, roughly. "Have you been seen with him? Have you known him long? Who had the impudence to present him?"
Mrs. Carson looked up, now thoroughly alarmed. Her lower lip was trembling, and she twisted her gloved hands together in her lap.
"What do you know against him?" Miss Carson repeated, meeting Gordon"s look with one as full of surprise as his own.
The young man regarded her steadily for a few moments, and then, with a change of manner, as though he now saw the situation was much more serious than he had at first supposed, drew up a chair in front of the two women and seated himself deliberately.
"Has he borrowed any money from you yet?" he asked. Miss Carson"s face flushed crimson and she straightened her shoulders and turned her eyes away from Gordon with every sign of indignation and disapproval. The young man gave an exclamation of relief.
"No? That"s good. You cannot have known him so very long. I am greatly relieved."
"Louis of Messina," he began more gently, "is the most unscrupulous rascal in Europe. Since they turned him out of his kingdom he has lived by selling his t.i.tle to men who are promoting new brands of champagne or floating queer mining shares. The greater part of his income is dependent on the generosity of the old n.o.bility of Messina, and when they don"t pay him readily enough, he levies blackmail on them. He owes money to every tailor and horse-dealer and hotel-keeper in Europe, and no one who can tell one card from another will play with him. That is his reputation. And to help him live up to it he has surrounded himself with a parcel of adventurers as rascally as himself: a Colonel Erhaupt who was dropped from a German regiment, and who is a Colonel only by the favor of the Queen of Madagascar; a retired croupier named Barrat; and a fallen angel called Kalonay, a fellow of the very best blood in Europe and with the very worst morals. They call him the King"s jackal, and he is one of the most delightful blackguards I ever met. So is the King for that matter, a most entertaining individual if you keep him in his place, but a man no woman can know. In fact, Mrs. Carson," Gordon went on, addressing himself to the mother, "when you have to say that a woman has absolutely no reputation whatever you can best express it by explaining that she has a t.i.tle from Louis of Messina. That is his Majesty"s way of treating his feminine friends when they bore him and he wants to get rid of them. He gives them a t.i.tle.
"The only thing the man ever did that was to his credit and that could be discussed in polite society is what he is doing now at this place, at this moment. For it seems," Gordon whispered, drawing his chair closer, "that he is about to show himself something of a man after all, and that he is engaged in fitting out an armed expedition with which he hopes to recover his kingdom. That"s what brought me here, and I must say I rather admire him for attempting such a thing. Of course, it was Kalonay who put him up to it; he would never have stirred from the boulevards if that young man had not made him. But he is here, nevertheless, waiting for a favorable opportunity to sail, and he has ten thousand rifles and three Maxim guns lying in his yacht out there in the harbor. That"s how I came to learn about it. I was getting an estimate on an outfit I was thinking of taking into Yucatan from my old gunsmith in the Rue Scribe, and he dropped a hint that he had shipped ten thousand rifles to Tangier, to Colonel Erhaupt. I have met Erhaupt in Zanzibar, and knew he was the King"s right-hand man, so I put two and two together and decided I would follow them up, and----"
"Yes, and now," interrupted Miss Carson, sharply--"and now that you have followed them up, what do you mean to do?"
Gordon looked his surprise at her earnestness, but answered that he did not know what he would do; he thought he would either ask them to give him a commission in their expedition, and let him help them fight, and write an account of their adventures later, or he would telegraph the story at once to his paper. It was with him, he said, entirely a question as to which course would be of the greater news value. If he told what he now knew, his paper would be the first of all others to, inform the world of the expedition and the proposed revolution; while if he volunteered for the expedition and waited until it had failed or succeeded, he would be able to tell more eventually, but would have to share it with other correspondents.
Miss Carson regarded him with an expression in which indignation and entreaty were curiously blended.
"Archie," she said, in a low voice, "you do not know what you are doing or saying. You are threatening to spoil the one thing in my life on which I have set my heart. The return of this man to his throne, whether he is worthy or not, means the restoration of the Catholic Church on that island; it means the return of the monks and the rebuilding of the monasteries, and the salvation of sixty thousand souls. I know all that they mean to do. I am the one who paid for those rifles that brought you here; you have told me only what I have known for months, and for which I have been earnestly working and praying. I am not blinded by these men. They are not the creatures you describe; but no matter what they may be, it is only through them, and through them alone, that I can do what I have set out to do."
Gordon silenced her with a sweep of his hand. "Do you mean to tell me," he demanded, "that you are mixed up in this--with these--that they have taken money from you, and told you they meant to use it to re-establish the Church? Mrs. Carson," he exclaimed, bitterly, turning upon her, "why have you allowed this--what have you been doing while this was going on? Do you suppose those scoundrels care for the Church--the Church, indeed! Wait until I see them--any of them--Erhaupt by choice, and I"ll make them give up every franc you"ve lent them, or I"ll horsewhip and expose them for the gang of welshers and thimble-riggers they are; or if they prefer their own methods, I"ll call them out in rotation and shoot their arms and legs off." He stopped and drew a long breath, either of content that he had discovered the situation in time to take some part in it, or at the prospect of a fight.
"The idea of you two helpless females wandering into this den of wolves!" he exclaimed, indignantly. "It"s about time you had a man to look after you! You go back to your hotel now, and let me have a chat with Louis of Messina. He"s kept me waiting some twenty minutes as it is, and that"s a little longer than I can give him. I"m not a creditor." He rose from his chair; but Miss Carson put out her hand and motioned him to be seated.
"Archie," she said, "I like the way you take this, even though you are all wrong about it, because it"s just like you to fly into a pa.s.sion and want to fight someone for somebody. If your conclusions were anywhere near the truth, you would be acting very well. But they are not. The King is not handling my money, nor the Prince Kalonay. It is in the keeping of Father Paul, the Father Superior of the Dominican monks, who is the only one of these people I know or who knows me. He is not a swindler, too, is he, or a retired croupier? Listen to me now, and do not fly out like that at me, or at mother. It is not her fault. Last summer mother and I went to Messina as tourists, and one day, when pa.s.sing through a seaport town, we saw a crowd of people on the sh.o.r.e, standing or kneeling by the hundreds in a great semicircle close to the water"s edge. There was a priest preaching to them from an open boat. It was like a scene from the New Testament, and the man, this Father Paul, made me think of one of the disciples. I asked them why he did not preach on the land, and they told me that he and all of the priests had been banished from the island six years before, and that they could only return by stealth and dared not land except by night. When the priest had finished speaking, I had myself rowed out to his boat, and I talked a long time with him, and he told me of this plan to re-establish himself and his order. I offered to help him with my money, and he promised me a letter to Cardinal Napoli. It reached me on my return to Rome, and through the influence of the Cardinal I was given an audience with the Pope, and I was encouraged to aid Father Paul as far as I could. I had meant to build a memorial church for father, but they urged me to give the money instead to this cause. All my dealings until to-day have been with Father Paul alone. I have seen a little of the Prince Kalonay because they are always together; but he has always treated me in a way to which no one could take exception, and he is certainly very much in earnest. When Father Paul left Paris mother and I came on here in order to be near him, and that is how you find me at Tangier. And now that you understand how much this means to me, I know you will not do anything to stand in our way. Those men inside are afraid that you came here for just the reason that apparently has brought you, and when they saw you a little while ago through the windows they were greatly disturbed. Let me tell them that you mean to volunteer for the campaign. The King cannot refuse the services of a man who has done the things you are always doing. And I promise you that for a reward you shall be the only one to tell the story of our attempt. I promise you," she repeated earnestly, "that the day we enter the capital, you can cable whatever you please and tell our story to the whole of Europe."
"The story be hanged!" replied Gordon. "You have made this a much more serious business than a newspaper story. You misunderstand me utterly, Patty. I am here now because I am not going to have you compromised and robbed."
The girl stood up and looked down at the young man indignantly.
"You have no right whatever to use that tone to me," she said. "I am of age and my own adviser. I am acting for the good of a great number of people, and according to what my conscience and common sense tell me is right. I shall hate you if you attempt to interfere. You can do one of two things, Archie. I give you your choice: you can either go with them as a volunteer, and promise to keep our secret; or you can cable what you know now, what you know only by accident, but if you do, you will lose your best friend, and you will defeat a good and a n.o.ble effort."
Gordon leaned back in his chair, and looked up at her steadily for a brief moment, and then rose with a smile, and bowed to the two women in silence. He crossed the terrace quickly with an amused and puzzled countenance, and walked into the breakfast-room, from the windows of which, as he rightly guessed, the five conspirators had for some time observed him. He looked from one to the other of the men about the table, until his eyes finally met those of the King.
"I believe, sir, you are leading an expedition against the Republic of Messina?" Gordon said. "I am afraid it can"t start unless you take me with you."
III
The presence in Tangier of the King of Messina and his suite, and the arrival there of the French n.o.blemen who had volunteered for the expedition, could not escape the observation of the resident Consuls-General and of the foreign colony, and dinners, riding and hunting parties, pig-sticking, and excursions on horseback into the outlying country were planned for their honor and daily entertainment.
Had the conspirators held aloof from these, the residents might have asked, since it was not to enjoy themselves, what was the purpose of their stay in Tangier; and so, to allay suspicion as to their real object, different members of the expedition had been a.s.signed from time to time to represent the visitors at these festivities. On the morning following the return of the yacht from Messina, an invitation to ride to a farmhouse some miles out of Tangier and to breakfast there had been sent to the visitors, and the King had directed the Prince Kalonay, and half of the delegation from Paris, to accept it in his name.
They were well content to go, and rode forth gayly and in high spirits, for the word had been brought them early in the morning that the expedition was already prepared to move, and that same evening at midnight the yacht would set sail for Messina. They were careless as to what fortune waited for them there. The promise of much excitement, of fighting and of danger, of possible honor and success, stirred the hearts of the young men gloriously, and as they galloped across the plains, or raced each other from point to point, or halted to jump their ponies across the many gaping crevices which the sun had split in the surface of the plain, they filled the still, warm air with their shouts and laughter. In the party there were many ladies, and the groups changed and formed again as they rode forward, spread out on either side of the caravan-trail and covering the plain like a skirmish line of cavalry. But Kalonay kept close at Miss Carson"s stirrup, whether she walked her pony or sent him flying across the hard, sunbaked soil.