These two had been on the Forked River but a short time, when they awoke to a most unpleasant fact, in addition to that which has already been mentioned. While the climate was wholesome enough to those accustomed to it, it was highly dangerous to visitors. The air was damp, oppressive and miasmatic, probably because of the rank vegetation that grew everywhere. Still further, the insect pests were intolerable at times. Several cases of illness among the crew of the yacht, though fortunately none was fatal, alarmed Aunt Cynthia and caused some uneasiness on the part of Major Starland, as well as of Captain Winton. In the circ.u.mstances, the Major felt warranted in urging the plea of business as a legitimate one for haste in leaving the detestable country.
It has been intimated that after Miss Starland had been delivered over to her dearest friend, the yacht dropped down the river to Zalapata, and left Jack there. Captain Winton, who was a cousin of Aunt Cynthia, intended to steam some twenty miles farther eastward to the city of San Luis, where a few needed supplies would be taken aboard. Then the boat would return to Zalapata for its owner, and continue on to Atlamalco, there to receive the young woman for the homeward voyage.
Major Jack Starland was considerate enough to decide to remain most of the time at the capital of General Bambos, knowing the school mates would wish to devote the all too-brief period to each other.
Consequently he would only be in the way. The Major gave no specific instructions to Captain Winton, but left much to his discretion. It was intimated to him that he might return to Atlamalco in the course of a few days,--an elastic term which might be halved or doubled without any blame attaching to the skipper.
General Bambos was delighted for the time with the companionship of a man who had received the thorough military training of his visitor.
Ignorant as most of the prominent South Americans are, the majority have heard of West Point, and all know something of the courage and achievements of the greatest nation in all the world. The General consulted often with his guest and Major Starland never did, or rather never attempted to do, a more praiseworthy thing than when he strove to impress upon the bulky Dictator the folly and crime of war.
"It was truthfully characterized by our General Sherman as "h.e.l.l"; it has been the curse of the ages and brought misery and death to millions, besides turning back the hands on the dial of progress for centuries. Shun it as you would the pestilence that stalks at noonday."
Such discourse is thrown away upon the South American leader to whom revolutions are as the breath of his life. General Bambos blandly smiled and cordially agreed with the wise sentiments, but laid the blame eternally on the other fellow. If _he_ would only do that which is just, wars would cease and blessed peace would brood forever over all nations and peoples.
Major Starland took another tack. There had been hostilities between Zalapata and Atlamalco in the past, with no special advantage accruing to either side. On the whole perhaps the latter Republic had been the gainer, since the last treaty ceded to General Yozarro a small strip of territory on which _Castillo Descanso_ stood, the same having been a bone of contention for a long time.
The purchase of a tugboat by General Yozarro had unquestionably tipped the scales in his favor. The American did his best to show Bambos this fact and to warn him that in case of another war between the republics, Zalapata was sure to be the chief sufferer. Bambos could not gainsay this and he was now seeking to balance things, by floating a loan which was to be used in arming his troops with modern weapons.
He made a tempting offer to Major Starland to enter his service, agreeing to pay him an enormous salary in gold, though one might well question where he was to obtain a fractional part of it, and to place him in supreme command of the military forces of the Republic.
While the American was illimitably the superior in mentality to the gross Dictator, he failed to perceive an important truth, which did not become clear to him until after his plain talk with Captain Guzman. The great object of the obese nuisance in warring against Yozarro was to place Miss Starland under deep obligations to him, though he was too cunning to intimate anything of that nature. When Jack Starland kindly but firmly declined his offer, he feared that he would become an obstacle to his scheme; and although he hid any such feeling, he would have been glad to have him disappear from the stage of action. What galled Bambos was the fact that the American lady was the guest of his rival, who he knew would do his utmost to woo and win her. To bring to naught anything of that nature, he determined to wage war against Yozarro and shatter the opportunity that fortune had placed in the hands of that detested individual. It cannot be said that the logic of Bambos was of the best, but it must be remembered that the gentle pa.s.sion plays the mischief with numskulls as well as with men of wisdom.
Such in brief was the situation, when Major Jack Starland yielded to his growing unrest over the visit of his sister to her friend. He had learned that General Yozarro was a widower--though as in the case of Bambos that would have made little difference in his wayward promptings--and he decided that it would be well to shorten the visit of Miss Starland or to bear her company, so long as she stayed in Atlamalco. He would be welcomed by the young women themselves, and, although Yozarro might wish him to the uttermost parts of the earth, he, too, would be gracious. So the sail of the American and Captain Guzman up the forked river becomes clear to the reader.
Never was mortal man more infatuated with woman than was General Yozarro, from the moment he first laid eyes on the "Flower of the North," as he poetically named her. His pa.s.sion was too absorbing to be concealed, and in the sanct.i.ty of their apartments the niece rallied her friend on the conquest she had made.
"But it is the very one I do not wish to make," protested the annoyed American; "I like General Yozarro, chiefly because he is your relative, but absolutely my feeling can never go beyond that."
"I thought your heart had not wandered elsewhere."
"It has not, and it can never pa.s.s to him, my dear Manuela."
"May I not say that you might go farther and fare worse? He is one of the kindest-hearted of men, is wealthy and would always be your slave."
"You name the very quality I cannot tolerate in the one whom I love; I care nothing for wealth, for I do not need it; I want no man to be my slave, and I shall never marry any one who is not an American like myself."
"But many of your young women marry t.i.tles abroad."
"And too often hate themselves afterward for doing so. Misery and wretchedness generally follow, for there is something unnatural in such a union, with nothing of love on either side. Then, too, your uncle is double my age, and it is impossible--utterly impossible for me to return any affection on his part, if it really exists."
"There can be no doubt of _that_," replied the impulsive Atlamalcan, throwing her arms around her friend and affectionately kissing her.
"Be a.s.sured I shall never urge you to do anything contrary to your own pure nature. More than that, I shall take the first opportunity to impress upon General Yozarro the hopelessness of any love he may feel toward you."
"That is just like your true self!" exclaimed the American, returning the ardent caresses of her friend; "my stay with you is to be too brief to allow any such cloud to come between us. Much as I hate to cause you distress, Manuela, I shall not stay another day if he persists in forcing his attentions upon me."
"Have no fear of that. He is too good, too considerate, too honorable to bring pain to any one. He will be grieved when I tell him the truth, as I shall lose no time in doing, and will hasten to repair the injustice. So let us kiss again, and say and think no more about it."
True to her promise, Senorita Estacardo took the first occasion to explain frankly the situation to her uncle. He listened thoughtfully, admitted his grief that his new-born hope should be crushed, but declared he would accept the facts like an honorable man and take every pains that their visitor should not be annoyed in any way by him.
Nothing could have been more delightful than the few days that followed. General Yozarro took his niece and her friend on several voyages down the Rio Rubio, and far enough westward to give her glimpses of the magnificent fauna and flora of that interesting region. There were times when the exuberance of vegetation and foliage, the sweep of the mighty waters, and the superabundance of animal life filled her with awe and a certain fear, but her wonder never abated. The guns on the craft were fired several times for her entertainment, but the General prudently refrained from pointing out the target until he had made sure where the missile had struck, when he found no difficulty in doing so.
No knight of the Crusades could have been more attentive to her slightest wish. Indeed he was so gracious and thoughtful that she felt at times a certain compunction. She wished she could give her affection to one who possessed so many admirable qualities, but compressing her lips, she shook her head and said again and again: "It can never be."
Now and then spots showed on the sun. She caught glimpses of the volcano-like nature of the man, when some of the crew or his people displeased him. She was horrified to overhear some words which made known the shooting of the brother of Martella for a trifling fault, and she learned, too, of Yozarro"s ferocious cruelties to others, including some who had been taken prisoners in honorable warfare.
Underneath that suave, smiling exterior lurked Satan himself.
CHAPTER XII.
But the fly was still in the ointment. General Yozarro showed in innumerable ways that his pa.s.sion swayed him more absolutely, if possible, than before. It appeared in the touch of his hand when a.s.sisting Miss Starland to mount or alight from her horse on which she rode with her friends through the picturesque country that surrounded the capital,--in the glance of his ardent black eyes, in the sigh which he pretended to try to keep from her, and in the many hints which he dropped of his lonely life since the death of his wife. The young woman could not touch upon these themes, lest he accept it as encouragement; so she contented herself with parrying them. She began to long for the time when she should turn her back upon Atlamalco forever.
On a certain balmy forenoon, General Yozarro, his niece and Miss Starland rode out from the town and over the trail leading into the Rubio Mountains. They were on their way to _Castillo Descanso_, which had been the cause of much fighting between the republics, and which had finally fallen into the possession of the Dictator of Atlamalco.
It was a considerable way in the mountains and stood upon an elevation that brought it out in clear view from the capital.
"It is fully three centuries old," explained Senorita Estacardo to her friend, "and is unlike anything I have ever seen in this part of the world. I suppose there are plenty of similar buildings along the Rhine and perhaps on your own Hudson, which has been called the Rhine of America."
"How came it to be built?"
"I can only repeat the legends that have come down to us. Some great pirate or general of Spain or Portugal--I don"t know which--came up the river in quest of gold mines of which he had heard stories from the natives. You know that the first Spaniards who crossed the ocean to our continent cared more for gold than any or everything else, and stopped at no crimes to obtain it."
"That was the case with many other nations."
"Well, this buccaneer landed his crew here and tramped inland to the mountains, where the gold was reported to be. He took with him several hundred native prisoners to work the mines. He is said to have been very successful, and while his slaves were digging in the mountains, he set many others to work building him a home.
"Oh, there was no element of romance lacking, for he brought with him a young and beautiful bride and it was for her that the Castle was built. He must have learned from Columbus, Balboa, Pizarro and the other early explorers that the worm sometimes turns and that it was wise for him to make his position safe against any revolt of the Indians. So the house which you are about to visit was put up. It is of solid stone and three stories high,--something almost unknown in an earthquake country like ours."
"But what became of this fine old gentleman?"
"I declare I forgot that. He lived there for years and then found that the danger against which he had made such full preparations was not the one that threatened him. The natives did not revolt, though why they did not I do not understand, for he treated them like beasts of burden and killed many in mere wantonness. It was his own men who rose against him. They had gathered a great deal of gold, but grew homesick. They hated the country and begged him again and again to leave or allow them to go, since they had enough wealth for all. He swore that not one should depart till the store of gold was increased ten-fold. Then, and not until then, would he weigh anchor, spread sail and pa.s.s down the river to the ocean and so homeward.
"Well, although I suppose the men were able to gather more gold, it is not to be supposed they could have gotten as much as he wished. So they took the shortest way to close up the business. They killed the captain and his bride, carried aboard ship all the wealth they had collected, set sail and pa.s.sed out from further chronicle. What do you think of the story, Warrenia?"
"It has the true flavor and makes me anxious to look through the Castle."
General Yozarro, who was riding in advance along the narrow trail, and listening to the words of his niece at the rear, called over his shoulder:
"That privilege shall be yours in a brief time, Miss Starland; I am glad you are interested."
"How could any one help it? Is the Castle yours, General?"
"Yes; it may be said to be a part of the spoils of war. The boundary line between Atlamalco and Zalapata runs through these mountains, but its precise course has never been defined. The Castle rightfully belonged to Atlamalco, but General Bambos claimed that it stood on his territory. Since he was deaf to argument and reason nothing remained but to refer it to the arbitrament of arms, with the result that General Bambos is quite sure not to open the dispute again."
"Did those visitors of the long ago take away all the gold in the mountains?"
"That is quite impossible."
"Why do _you_ not dig or mine for what is left?"