THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL AND THE VICEROY INEZ The Lieutenant The Girl and The Viceroy The Story of the Adventurers of these Three with II Liberator in South America By MARSHALL PUTNAM THOMPSON THE C. M. CLARK PUBLISHING CO., BOSTON, 1907 Copyright, 1906. THE C. M. CLARK. PUBLISHING CO., Boston, Mass. Entered at Stationer's Hall, London. Dramatic and all other RIGHTS RESERVED. 2133134 CONTENTS. PART I. How AN ARMY HIDING IN THE GRASS NEEDED AND FOUND A SPY. CHAPTER PAGE I. " By Way of Introduction." 11 II. Tom Clayton Meets a Girl of the Country 31 III. How the Spanish Treated a Non-Combatant, an Envoy 41 IV. A Poor Creole Girl Meets a Poor Soldier Hiding in the Grass 54 V. How the Poor Creole Girl Roused a Mutiny 58 VI. A Speech that Made an Ally 67 PART II. How THEY BROKE AND MADE BETROTHALS AND How A PRISONER WON A REPRIEVE. I. A Beggar from the Mountains ... 77 II. How a Betrothal Was Broken 83 III. Colonel Gomez Blunders 88 IV. Seftorita Maria Bargains for a List 96 V. It Becomes Necessary for Seftorita Inez to Look Through a Lattice 101 VI. Old Uncle Tom of Louisville 108 5 6 CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE VII. Tom Clayton Learns a Thing or Two About Spanish Sweethearting 116 VIII. The Vice Roy Condemns Judas in Council 119 IX. How Some Prisoners Were Given a Chance of Mercy 127 X. How Valdez Obtained Mercy , 135 PART III. How THE VICE ROY ENTERTAINED. I. Thunder in the Andes 143 II. Maria Becomes Observing 148 III. How They Searched for the Dance Order of the Vice Roy's Ward 155 IV. How a Song was Sung for a Prisoner's Supper 160 PART IV. How THEY CONDUCTED A TRIAL. I. The Night Before 175 II. Judge Clayton Consults with Francisco 189 III. " Come in to Court." 195 IV. The Arguments 225 V. How They Escorted Senorita Inez to the Residence. VI. The Vice Roy's Idea 238 VII. How Francisco came to Overhear what Certain Persons said among Themselves 246 VIII. How the Spoken Word Laughs at Locksmiths and Sentinels 256 IX. The Conclusion 264 ILLUSTRATIONS Frontispiece Inez Page "He was surprised to see the guard of the morning escorting a young girl toward him." 33 " Back," cried the American, " Back, you curs, or I fire." 64 "Eh, the cold northener! oh, the impassive Yankee!" 89 " Catch him !" " Cut him down !" " Shoot !" came the cries. ...... 136 " A hundred, said an officer." . . . 158 " Eh, Jesu ! I am in the shadow of death, I would know who I am." .... 185 " You may argue," said Robeldo to Romero. . 225 "Maria, exasperated beyond endurance, took him by the hair and shook him." . . 251 " The Castles and the Lions have had their day ; it is time for the seven stars ! " . . . 271 A los Espaiioles nos gusta charlar. " Eh Senor, write the story as you will ; it involved two of your countrymen who came down here and may interest you. It was when the Castles and the Lions of Spain were carved over the entrance there, see you can still dimly see them, though now the seven stars of the Republic have been chiseled in their place." PART I. HOW AN ARMY HIDING IN THE GRASS NEEDED AND FOUND A SPY. THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL AND THE VICEROY. CHAPTER 1. "BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION." MONSIEUR Du PLESSIS, Colonel in the Foreign Legion of " II Liberator," was standing in mud and water up to his neck, but his white mustache still bristled and a look of contentment shone upon his features, as he looked with delight at a frog wriggling and kicking in his hand. " I should think you had captured a Spaniard," said a voice in English. Monsieur Du Plessis raised his eyes a tall, lithe figure of a young man was standing on the edge of the mud-hole. " Yoila! I have see his green uniform! " said he, " But why do I talk of frogs ! Monsieur 12 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL Clayton, you have escaped. I would embrace you were it not for the mud, or for this one," he held up the frog. " Will you not eat him and his brother and his cousins and his friends see, they are all about us ! " He pointed about the mud-hole at numerous other frogs. Clayton shook his head, laughing. " Come with me to the village yonder," he said, pointing down the half-defined path that led through the pampas grass, to where could be seen some clus- tering huts and a stockade "and get a decent meal." " Mon Dieu Monsieur and have my neck stretched by the Spanish Commandant? Never! I prefer my neck unstretched and Monsieur Crapaud slipping down him." " Well," said Clayton, " I am a neutral and hungry I am going to present my credentials and ask for a dinner." " You had much better not, Monsieur, believe me! " " Come with me! I hear they offer amnesty to those of the foreign legion who come in ! " con- tinued Clayton. AND THE VICEROY. 13 " Bah ! No ! I prefer the frogs and then I have a mission from the General," said Du Pies- sis. "What? After tl>e defeat, the rout?" " Sapristi ! That was an incident we have our orders we are to meet again at a place desig- nated beforehand and renew the war ! " " Nonsense ! " " Perhaps, Monsieur, but the General is a man meanwhile, by his orders, I await a lady." "A lady! Here in this swamp?" " She will pass the swamp by that path ! " " And you are to talk with her? " " Never ! She is not to see me I am simply to see her." "Why?" " What can I tell? It is the General's orders. She may be his mistress, or his wife, or his daugh- ter, or his maid-servant I do not know ! " " But " " Ah Monsieur, I simply obey orders I wait, I see her afterward I am to tell ' II Liberator ' I have seen her. Meanwhile I catch frogs for 14 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL the benefit of my private department of the Com- missary." " Well," said Clayton, " I am going to the village." " Farewell, Monsieur I foresee that I shall soon have to compose for you an epitaph." The American laughed and walked away to- ward the village. The period of history in which Du Plessis was catching frogs and Clayton talking to him was during the years that followed the first election of President Monroe, when public interest in the United States was very generally directed to the struggles of the Spanish American Colonies for independence. The place was in the Vice Royalty, whose capi- tal is known as the City of the Hills. Like hundreds of other young Americans and particularly young Southerners, Tom Clayton had followed the varying fortunes of the war with an interest and sympathy that is now but little realized. When, in 1811, the volunteers had gathered and drilled on the green in anticipa- tion of the British, he had heard the officers AND THE VICEROY. 15 drink, after the toasts to the President, to Ken- tucky and the " bright eyes of the ladies, God bless 'em," a toast to " the independency of the Western Hemisphere," and had heard of the success of the first South American revolts in 1809, nominally in favor of the Bourbons, who had been driven from Spain by the French. In 1815, after New Orleans, the veterans would sigh and say it was a pity that the Bour- bons were restored and South America about to return to its allegiance, " For if they hadn't, suh, ah mahself would have raised a regiment of seven hundred Kentuckians and gone to their assist- ance." Then there would be talk of the " in- trepidity of Americans " and of what could be expected of " those w r ho were freemen born, suh damn that fool slave nigger why don't he bring the whisky? " In 1817, Tom was a lieutenant in the army and had joined General Jackson's thousand mili- tiamen and marched against the Greeks and Seminoles and had followed his headstrong leader into the Spanish dominions in Florida and 16 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL assisted in packing the Governor of Pensacola and his garrison off to Havana. He had had high words with the Governor in carrying out his General's orders, and the haughty Spaniard had left, vowing vengeance to- ward the whole American nation in general and toward Lieutenant Thomas Clayton in particu- lar. On account of this little adventure at Pensa- cola, the Spanish government made strong rep- resentations at Washington, and it looked, for a time, as though war with Spain could not be avoided, unless the administration would apolo- gize and punish General Jackson and his aide- de-camp, Lieutenant Clayton. The hero of New Orleans was too powerful to touch and the uncle of Lieutenant Clayton was Congressman Thomas Clayton, whose influence in the South was needed by Monroe in other matters, wherefore the ad- ministration was in a quandary. Just at this time came news that the restored Spanish monarchy, having attempted to carry on its old system of oppression in South America, had again been faced with revolt. Our nation AND THE VICEROY. 17 was already excited against Spain on account of the affair at Pensacola it was feeling its vigor, was flushed with its success, only five years away, at New Orleans, and gallant and perhaps unwise spirits, here and there, were eager to take a hand in the southern conflict, seeing in it a repeti- tion of our own struggle against England. In Congress and out, the clamor rose for the recognition of the new nations of the South, while in Kentucky, Henry Clay, the idol of the state, declared for a policy of active intervention, while every schoolboy was ready to declaim his famous speech in Congress, beginning, " Three centuries ago, Spain erected on this continent, on the wreck of the thrones of the Incas and the Montezumas, the most stupendous system of des- potism the world has ever seen." Meanwhile the administration was having a great deal of trouble on account of Lieutenant Thomas Clayton's freedom of speech at Pensa- cola. President Monroe did not want war. His interest was all turned toward internal improve- ments, questions in regard to the admission of Maine, Mississippi, Alabama and Missouri were i8 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL pressing for solution. Neither did the adminis- tration desire to alienate the support of the powerful faction of Henry Clay, who would have made an issue at once of Tom's punishment at the request of Spain. Meanwhile, Tom was kept waiting in Washing- ton and there, one night, met with Colonel Du- Plessis, late an officer of Napoleon and now a refugee. Du Plessis told him that the greatest man in the world, after Napoleon, was one he called, " II Liberator," a leader of the South American revolt. Du Plessis had served under him and would serve again, and then spoke of the luxury and magnificence that still clung to the Vice Regal courts of the South, of the wealth of the great Creole magnates, of the cruelty, ty- ranny and oppression of the government and of the romantic and daring adventures of San Mar- tin of Miranda, and of the one he called " II Liberator," till Tom, intoxicated with youth and ambition and the story, stumbled to his uncle's room at two in the morning and insisted that he would resign and leave for the South in twenty- four hours that his career was ruined in the AND THE VICEROY. 19 States that the administration would not dare promote him in the face of the complaints of Spain and that he would go, with or without per- mission. " Bah ! I'll see you are promoted, but if you go South you'll go without money, Tom, mah boy," said Uncle Tom dryly and so w r ent to sleep, while Tom raged off hopelessly, to his room, for a lieutenant's pay and expensive tastes didn't leave him a sou to call his own, while his fortune was absolutely in the hands of Uncle Tom to give or to withhold. Tom was not the only one, when the last cen- tury was young, who wanted to take part in the war of the Spanish Vice Royalties. Hundreds of young Americans, forgotten and unsung, in- spired with the spirit of adventure, went south in those days and not alone young Americans, but young Englishmen, Frenchmen and Irishmen swarmed thither. Bolivar had at one time, a foreign legion of nearly eight thousand. An American officer organized the wonderful cav- alry that won the decisive victory; an English nobleman, the Earl of Dundonald, commanded 20 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL in his own ship in the naval victories of Chili, and many gallant deeds they accomplished, and the fields of many battlefields, whose names are to us unknown, they reddened with their blood and whitened with their bones. Dead and gone for nearly a hundred years, their graves are scattered through a continent, in tropical jungles, on the slopes of the Andes and in deep shadowed valleys, and what they fought for and what ac- complished is forgotten by their countrymen, but down in the little republics, now gallantly struggling into place and power, they are still remembered and stories of their deeds, that have become epics, are told about the fountain in the market-place and in the huts of the people. But all this is taking us far from Tom Clayton, raging in Washington at his uncle and his idle- ness. Finding that the old gentleman was not to be moved, Master Tom sought out Du Plessis, held other long talks with him and studied Span- ish furiously. One morning, Uncle Tom lounged into Lieuten- ant Tom's room as the latter was shaving. " Tom, mah boy, you are in a mess," said he. AND THE VICEROY. 21 His nephew stopped shaving for a moment and held the razor extended, then puckered his face under the lather and looked at his uncle in dis- gust. " I know it," he said. " You have become," continued the latter, " an international difficulty." "Eh what? Hold on a minute I nearly cut myself." A few moments more and the operation com- pleted, the young man turned again to the elder. " You have become an international difficulty," he repeated. " I'm blessed if I know how." " But ah'll have to ask you to explain Ahm not quite clear mahself." "Explain what?" " Just what occurred at Pensacola on " Uncle Tom consulted his note-book. " Last year, on the twenty-fourth of May, 1818." " You know about that as well as I." " But not your part now you tell me about this from the beginning. 22 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL The young man adjusted his high-stocked, long-skirted lieutenant's coat, held his high hat with its black pompon in the crook of his arm and yawned. "What's the use?" " The administration has kept you kicking your heels here in Washington for six months. You may be courtmartialed. The Spanish insist. I have the ear of the president and I want to know this story from beginning to end." "Well, sir, as you know, I was aide-de-camp to General Jackson when he marched against the Creeks and Seminoles." Judge Clayton nodded. " We had a skirmish the Indians ran. On the field were three of their number dead one of the dead men was a Spaniard. The papers found on him showed him to be a Spanish officer." " The devil," said the Judge. "Precisely," said Tom. "Then we captured some of the redskins. One of their lot bragged that they had the backing of the king of Spain and the promise of protection at Pensacola if defeated." AND THE VICEROY. 23 " Yes yes," said the Judge. " I read that." " Well/' continued Tom, " when we had finally defeated the Indians, Jackson ordered us to march to Pensacola and we marched." " That I know also," said the Judge. "Well, we reached Pensacola, and Jackson sent me in with a flag of truce to the Command- ant." " Now, that's just it," said Uncle Tom. " This is the part I want to know about." " Well," said Tom, the General told me to go in to the town, demand the surrender of the place and order the Commandant and his garri- son to pack off, bag and baggage, to Havana and to be quick about it. ' By the eternal,' he said, ' tell them to vamoose. That if they have the temerity and intrepidity to stand, I won't leave one of them alive.' Well, I carried out the General's orders and the Spanish vamoosed." " Er " said Uncle Tom, " what words did you use to the Commandant? " Precisely what I've told you." " Um not very diplomatic." " See here," said Tom. " I'm an officer of the 24 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL army, I knew Jackson of old and I fully realized that in a time of nominal peace, we were com- mitting an act of war in a supposedly friendly country. Now that was none of my business. I was under orders, but when I am under orders, in order that there may be no mistake, I obey those orders to the letter. I don't propose to be sacrificed, when the cruel war is over, on the plea that I blundered. I wrote down just what Jack- son said and he signed it, laughed, and we both took a drink then I went in to Pensacola and read that paper just as it was that's all." " Got the paper," said Uncle Tom. "Yes," said Lieutenant Tom. " Ah reckon there won't be any courtmartial then," said Uncle Tom. Then he continued " General Jackson says he was authorized by a letter from Calhoun to invade Florida, but he hasn't got the letter. Calhoun whiffles, Monroe, is in a twitter Spain demands an apology and an indemnity and your dismissal from the army and the cashiering of Jackson. The whole South is with Jackson and demands war rather than apologize. You may be sacrificed to save the AND THE VICEROY. 25 administration's face with Spain. By the way, they also say, Jackson hung two Englishmen." " Yes," said Torn, " he did. They were drill- ing the refugee niggers and Indians that had been raiding Georgia." " Did you have anything to do with that? " " No, sir but we are wasting time. I thought we were to call on the President to-day in regard to my promotion that you were to bring about." " No use, Tom." "What?" " In the face of Spain's protests the adminis- tration won't promote you." But " " They won't." " I'll resign I'll " "Then what?" " Why I don't know go west go to farm- ing I reckon you won't let me go south." " Ah don't think you were made for farming," said Uncle Tom. " What else can I do? " " Ah had a talk with Henry Clay this morning, 26 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL and ah have changed my opinion about your go- ing south." "How?" " Tom, have you kept track of things since you've been down in the Everglades." " Some." " You know that all South America is in revolt again." " Of course I do." " Well, our friends Jackson's friends Henry Clay's friends want us to intervene." " Hurrah we'll do it!" " Not so fast the administration wants peace. They say we can settle our own quarrel with Spain by buying Florida and incidentally, dis- missing Lieutenant Tom Clayton from the ser- vice that the South American revolutionists are a lot of cut-throats and are beaten anyway that the Holy Alliance, Russia, Austria and Prussia, are backing Spain, and that even to recognize these people means a war with Europe." " I've talked this with you a hundred times." " Henry Clay talked yesterday," said the Judge. " He wants accurate, inside information AND THE VICEROY. 27 of what the South Americans are doing. He has heard that this chap called " II Liberator " is about to land a force in New Grenada, with fair prospects of success. He wants some one in w r hom he has confidence, who won't tell his plans to the administration, to join this force and to convey to " II Liberator," a subscription that Clay's friends have raised for him to stay with the expedition and to keep Clay informed. He means to force the hand of the administration and make it either intervene or issue a declara- tion to Europe to keep hands off." " Well what has this to do with me? " " Ah can get an indefinite furlough for you the President would like you to have an indefinite furlough," " You mean " The Congressman looked at his nephew quiz- zically. " Nothing, Tom ; nothing but l II Liberator ' is now in Hayti Henry Clay will be here to see ( me in half an hour he might be persuaded to i appoint you his correspondent. If so, I have no objection." 28 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL " Hurrah ! " said Tom. " Ah thought you would," said Uncle Tom. " And by the way I mahself may go down there later as Special Commissioner for the United States." So Tom became Henry Clay's correspondent. He joined the army of " II Liberator " at an ob- scure point in Hayti and among the foreign of- ficers he found his old acquaintance Du Plessis, and with his new companions he had sailed to- ward an unknown destination, not knowing what awaited him, the dangers and perils he was to encounter and with no thought that perhaps love beckoned in the guise of ambition and that curi- ous things awaited him under the Southern Cross. At last the expedition landed, then came the battle, the defeat, the annihilation, he feared, of " II Liberator's " army ; for that army had be- come, so far as he could learn, merely a disorgan- ized and scattered lot of fugitives who were hid- ing in the grass of the pampas till they could make their way out of the country or die of fever or famine in the jungle. AND THE VICEROY. 29 He had fled with the rest and after a few days' wanderings had found the path to the village and stumbled on Du Plessis catching frogs. After leaving Du Plessis, the young American walked on his way down the path, looking with wonder at the height of the grass that walled him in on either side. It was so high that it would conceal a man on horseback and it stretched, though this he did not know, for hun- dreds of miles, unbroken except by occasional narrow trails or by here and there an open space, only known to those most familiar with the country ; shifting , shimmering, reflecting the shadows of the flying clouds it was a maze, a labyrinth and a mystery, to the solution of which the recently defeated " II Liberator " had given months of study and on account of which he had chosen this remote place to again enter the con- tinent. At the end of the path, Clayton found an open space and far to the right perceived a country house or hacienda, surrounded by a wall and of considerable extent; in front was the village of huts and the stockade he had seen when he left 30 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL Du Plessis. Suddenly he was startled by feeling himself seized by the shoulder. " You are a prisoner ! " said a voice in Spanish. Turning he found himself surrounded by a party of soldiers in ragged Spanish uniforms. AND THE VICEROY. 31 CHAPTER II. TOM CLAYTON MEETS A GIRL OF THE COUNTRY. FOUR days after his capture, as just related, Tom Clayton was still a prisoner, and in spite of the dirt, the heat, the squalor and the buzzing in- sects, was not having an unpleasant time of it. After his arrest, when he emerged from the path through the grass, he was brought before the local Commandant, who courteously listened to his explanations and then sent him to a hut inside the stockade, where he was left under guard. To all his inquiries and demands, the Commandant had shrugged his shoulders and answered, " Manana," and with this he had to be content. That he was not promptly hanged or garrotted or otherwise put out of the way, he owed, not to his explanations, as he thought, but to the fact, 32 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL all unknown to him, that his guards had no powder and the Commandant was a martinet " shoot all prisoners," was the order. Now pow- der was coming and meanwhile the guards were not averse to chatting with him, sitting about cross-legged on the ground in front of the hut they assigned him, and constantly smoking cig- arettes. " Eh ! Carramba ! " said one. " The Vice Roy comes next week, then you will be shot, it is very sad!" " Comes here? I thought the capital was the other side of the continent." "Eh! Yes! But he has a ward here, just sent in from the convent. She came an hour after your capture, down the same path. She is here now, waiting for him, with her friend, and that friend a red pepper and her duenna. The Vice Roy is making the yearly visitation." " A ward," Clayton idly questioned, to keep the conversation going and wondering whether the " ward " was the person for whose passing Du Plessis had waited. " Eh ! Who knows some say a daughter, at 60 Ml AND THE VICEROY. 33 any rate, she has property eh such property and the Vice Roy controls it." " Pretty? " " As the saints who are belles of heaven ! " Clayton, by this time, was quite used to their manner of speech, but still could not help smil- ing. " Humph ! " he said, " You allow me a good many privileges, why don't you let me talk to one of those pretty girls who are always pass- ing? " He indicated the door of the stockade, in at which a country girl was just peering curiously at " The Impassive Yankee," as they called him. " Eh ! " said the guard. " I will ask the Com- mandant, otherwise I should be shot, if there were " He paused. c - You were about to say " " Oh, nothing, Senor but about this girl eh, you would pay." Clayton flipped him a pesata. " Muchos gracias," said the guard and idled away. Late that afternoon, as Clayton sat in front of his hut, he was surprised to see the guard of the morning escorting a young girl toward him. 34 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL She was unusually beautiful, even for that land of beautiful women, was dressed like the country girls, with short skirt and her feet were bare, but one thing about her was quite unusual. The country-women went barefooted usually and their feet were large and ill-shaped and not over clean. This girl had little white feet. "A girl of the country," said the guard, but Clayton noticed that he treated her with great respect. " A poor Creole girl," said the young woman shyly and Clayton noticed that her Spanish was purer than the patois of the Catalan soldiers. "And you, Senor?" " I am an American officer, a correspondent of Henry Clay," said Clayton, courteously. The guard stood by grinning. The girl gave a gesture and he moved farther away. " Eh, Senor, and a prisoner. What have you done? " she continued. "Nothing," said Clayton; "they think I am one of II Liberator's foreign legion." " The Vice Roy should be informed." " I shall appeal to him when he comes." AND THE VICEROY. 35 " Eh, Jesu ! before that, they will shoot you." " Well, why have they not already done so?" "Eh, what! then you don't know?" She laughed musically. " Well, I may not tell." " Do you know the Vice Roy," he queried. " Eh ! a little." " Perhaps you know his ward." " Si I am about her daily, I, I attend her." " And her friend ? " " Si si a great beauty do you know she is betrothed. Si, her fiance comes with the Vice Hoy and she has never seen him. Her parents did it, but she loves his picture. It is beautiful." "And you?" " Bah ! no I have no lover and Senorita Maria is jealous of me already." "Of you?" " Eh of Senorita Inez, Si and of me also, It is because we looked at Lieutenant Francisco's picture." " W r ell, if I were Senorita Maria, and thought the original of the picture might meet you, I should be jealous." " Eh you pay compliments. Muchos gracias." 36 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL She dropped a courtesy. " But awkward ones. You have seen ' II Liberator.' How does he look?" " Why, why " said Clayton, looking at her closely, " when he was a boy, he must have looked like you, and if you were a man and fifty, you would look something like him." " Eh ! blood of the saints ! you do not compli- ment. Pah! he is the arch rebel Apollyon I have heard he had hoofs and horns." " From whom?" " Why, why from many. The nuns, I I at- tended Seuorita Inez at the convent daily warned us against him and every night we prayed to be delivered from him, yet many, they say, of the people, the ignorant, love him." " But you, you say, are a poor Creole girl." " Eh ! quite so, but brought up with those of the Hidalgoes." "And your own family?" " Eh, I have none no, an old man picked me up, an infant on a battlefield eh, Jesu! was it not curious? he placed me later with the Vice Roy's household." AND THE VICEROY. 37 " They, at least, do not love ' II Liberator.' " " No, Senor, he is the scourge of the South, but they say he has brains, intelligence, and was once kindly, but now embittered." " Senorita, he is a great man, a wonderful man." " Jesu ! I wish I could see him." " Why? " " Eh, Madre a dios, I would persuade him of his errors. He has never been shown the right way." She spoke in sober earnest, and Clayton smiled at her simplicity. " Eh, you smile, but bah, they tell a story that he will come to salvation by a maid, why not by me? The nuns told us, each one, if the op- portunity came, to plead with him." " Some say," said Clayton, " that the prophecy means that by a woman's aid he will win." " Bah, never still at times, even I and of the Vice Roy's household, have felt our people were too severe and that heaven would find the balance tipping against us, but enough, it is late adios." She was gone. The next morning the guard seemed unusually 38 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL solicitous that Clayton should eat a good break- fast. "Why?" asked the prisoner. " Carramba ! 'tis likely to be your last. Romero comes to-day to relieve us." " Romero ! " " Si, the black captain, of the Devil's Legion, once a slave, now an officer, bah disgusting. He will shoot all the prisoners to be rid of them." In the afternoon the Creole girl again ap- peared. She was downcast in appearance. " Eh," she said abruptly " why do you not escape? " Eagerness flashed in Clayton's eyes. It was what he had hoped, but not so soon. " I may trust you? " said he. She nodded. " I have thought of it, but the guards are many, the path from the gate narrow. If I should dash through, I should be shot. If I stay here they will set me fre.e once the Vice Roy comes I am a non-combatant, a neutral." " You are an imbecile. Listen, there is no powder. It is a secret. I wish to help you. Ro- AND THE VICEROY. 39 mero brings powder to-night you will be shot at sunrise." " But the sentinel at the gate." " Listen just after dark, I will pass along the street, singing. There is no moon, there are no lights. I will drop a sack over the sentinel's head, then run. Do you also run! At the end of the street, enter the grass of the pampas. Once under cover, they will never find you. Blood of the saints! But you will probably rot there, but you will not be shot. I will try and send a messenger to you, a little -girl, Carmen. Her father is of the Rebels. The man here is bribed to let us talk, he thinks, eh " a blush spread over the girl's face. " There is already something between us, you are better-looking than Francisco." " Tell me your name, who you are. I shall never forget you," said Clayton. "Eh a poor Creole girl it will answer." She shrugged her shoulders. " Eh ! Seiior ! I would tease Senorita Maria eh ! I would tell her I am betrothed, you will never see me again." 40 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL " By all means," said Clayton clumsily, " tell her we are betrothed." " Bah, pig of a Yankee, not like that ! Why did you not say you loved me, adored me. Eh ! bah ! Carramba! I am disappointed in you, but re- member, to-night, escape!" She gave a light laugh and was gone. AND THE VICEROY. 41 CHAPTER III. HOW THE SPANISH TREATED A NON-COMBATANT, AN ENVOY. IT was a week later, the place, an open one, was on the banks of the great river near the vil- lage. On all sides, the lofty pampas grass, so high it was like a forest, so thick, it was like a shining wall of green and yellow, rustled and whispered. Near the banks of the river, the grass gave place to a thick tangled jungle of trees and vines. On the left was a thatched hut. The time was early morning. Leaning against the door of the hut, a sword in his hand, stood the young Kentuckian. There was a blood-stained bandage about his head and on his face, a look of exhaustion, but an expres- sion of resolution and courage. Behind him crouched a young girl of twelve or thirteen, a 42 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL child. She was crying softly, but her eyes gleamed with hatred. In front stood an ugly and brutal negro, dressed in a captain's uniform, in his hand a heavy whip. Behind him were four negro soldiers. All were breathing heavily, while at one side, the crackling of a fire made the only interruption. The " poor Creole girl " had managed Clay- ton's escape as she had promised. For a week he had hidden in the grass of the pampas, and for a week the little girl Carmen had brought him food, but never a word would she tell him of his friend of the stockade. That morning the child had been surprised by the negroes who had been searching for Clayton and the latter had inter- rupted them as they were engaged in roasting her feet to make her tell his whereabouts. Suddenly, the negro officer muttered an order. The soldiers closed in on the young man. " Run, little one," said Clayton. As he spoke, he bent toward the child. She tried to rise, but pointing to her feet, made a gesture expressive of inability to use them. " Eh ! What ! " continued Clayton, " they have AND THE VICEROY. 43 burnt your feet ! Crawl, get away ! " As he spoke, the child crawled and squirmed her way backward through the grass, w T hile the negroes pressed closer to her protector; the latter aimed a stroke with his sword at the nearest one, but the soldier caught it on his gun-barrel and the blade broke, nearly at the hilt. " Eh, you are the escaped Yankee we are five, surrender/' said the officer. The young man looked about him. There was no chance of escape. The child had disappeared. " Bah, my sword is broken," he flung it down in disgust " I surrender! " " Bind him ! " The four soldiers leaped on him, grinning their relief that the fight was over, and bound him hand and foot with a heavy vine that they tore for the purpose from the jungle. Against this binding, the prisoner protested, not angrily but impatiently, as though his cap- tors were unwittingly making a mistake. " Come come, unbind me, I am merely a non- combntant, a civilian, a friend of Henry Clay of the United States. I have been with l II Libera- tor' merely as his correspondent." 44 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL Neither officer nor soldiers, for the moment, made any response. They simply stood breath- ing heavily. In a moment one of the soldiers lifted a bugle and blew the recall. The officer wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and looked at his pris- oner. A malicious grin spread over his features. " Well, Seiior Yankee, you saved that brat's life and for a non-combatant " He shrugged his shoulders expressively. " But you were trying to torture her," the tone was coldly argumentative. The officer waved the implied argument aside curtly. " You are as good as dead." " But I tell you I am a sort of envoy, a non- combatant." Vexation at the other's stupidity mingled with the tone of argument. The officer looked at him, looked at him impatiently. " You are an officer of the Rebel's foreign legion, that is what you are. It is scattered to the winds of heaven and I I am II Capitan Romero of the Regiment Diablo." He paused as though his own name and that of his regiment, AND THE VICEROY. 45 well known throughout the Vice Royalties for their cruelty, would make his prisoner tremble. Instead, again, came the tone of weary im- patience. " I don't think I am happy to meet you and I tell you I am not an officer, my papers are in my breast-pocket you can read them." The captain felt he was not showing that su- periority that belonged to him and as one of the soldiers took the papers from Clayton, he seated himself on a log and carelessly tossed the packet into the fire. " Bah that for your papers. Last week, after the defeat of the rebels, you were captured." " Yes, you scoundrels, I came to the village, frankly, openly. Your people made me a pris- oner, the guard said I was to be shot of course I escaped." " Eh, well, some woman managed your escape. You blundered here and spoiled sport with the child." He turned lazily to one of the soldiers. " Put a noose round his neck." The soldier advanced and did so, then stood aside, holding the end in his hand. 4 6 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL " Pull the noose a little." The soldier pulled and the young American choked and coughed as the noose tightened about his neck. An expression of satisfaction crossed the Cap tain's features. He could make the white man uncomfortable. " Ah, you cough. Describe this woman ! " " Suppose I do." " We will merely shoot you." " Oh, merely shoot me what will you do to her?" "Shoot her!" "Suppose I don't?" * We will burn you. Touch a brand to his fingers." The soldier dropped the noose and taking a brand, approached the prisoner. The latter shrank away a little and staggered. " Well, I will not describe her," he said. "Eh, hot, isn't it?" The tone was taunting. Romero rose and ad- vanced his ugly face close to the prisoner's. AND THE VICEROY. 47 An expression of disgust crossed the latter's features. " Do you know, I don't like you." " Carramba, you insult me. Pile up the straw ! Roast him ! " The men rushed like monkeys to gather and pile about Clayton the dry tangle of grass that was about them. As they did so, a rustling and murmur of voices attracted the attention of the captain. " Eh, hello ! " said he. The grass parted and four people came into the little clearing. Three were women, two of them young. The man was a young officer, a military dandy. " Eh, Jesu ! " said the youngest and prettiest woman. Clayton looked at her startled she was his friend of the prison. Captain Romero bowed in seeming respect to the strangers, but a sneer ran through his address to them. " Eh, welcome, the haughty Donna Isabella, the proud Sefiorita Maria, the beautiful Senorita 48 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL Inez, the high and mighty Aide-de-Camp, Fran- cisco." As he mentioned each by name, he made a pro- found bow, placing his hand on his belt as though about to turn himself over his arm as a gymnast over a bar. The ladies courtesied silently in return, the young officer bowed superciliously. " Eh Senor, we are lost," said he. He gestured freely as he spoke and shrugged his shoulders. " We are of the Vice Hoy's household and came out from the village to see the country, and were trying a short cut homeward," he added, looking for a moment at the prisoner as if to include him, as a matter of courtesy, in the number of his listeners. " Senor," said Clayton. Eh" " You are an officer, a gentleman, a white man. This brute " he nodded to Romero, " means to burn me like a dog." The group turned and looked at him with vary- ing expressions. AND THE VICEROY. 49 " Madre a dios never," said Senorita Inez, the youngest. The officer apparently did not hear her. He bowed politely and in a tone of indifference, said " Senor, I am sorry indeed I am but eh it is not my command I cannot help you." " But I'm an envoy, a non-combatant." " That will be most unfortunate, eh for Romero, but that is his affair." He dismissed the matter with an airy smile and walked aside. The others, all but one, seemed equally indifferent. Executions and even burnings were quite a matter of course in the Vice Royalties in 1821. Quite otherwise, how- ever, was the attitude of one, of Senorita Inez. Her face paled, she shuddered. " Eh, Captain, eh, Francisco you shall not burn him, he says he is an envoy." Romero bowed, still with that curious air of an ugly and sullen dog under a beating. " He had his chance." " How a chance? " " He is an escaped prisoner, some woman 50 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL helped him to escape he might have told her name, but would not what would you?" The girl's face flushed, her eyes sparkled with admiration. " And he wouldn't tell to save his life you shall not burn him ! " She stamped her foot. Clayton noticed that now it was shod in a shoe made only in Paris, but his regard was directed quickly to her whole aspect. She had become a fury. " You shall not burn this man, this gentleman ! bah if you stoop to this, bah I myself will be- come a revolutionist." " You, the Vice Roy's ward ! " " The deuce," muttered Clayton. But Inez was aroused. She walked up to Romero, snapping her fingers in his face. " Yes, I the Vice Roy's ward and I am the Vice Roy's ward and of his household Captain Romero, Romero, my ex-slave bah lay a finger on him and you shall know I am the Vice Roy's ward. Eh you will want promotion Jesu ! how you will intrigue for it, and bah it won't come AND THE VICEROY. 51 because I am the Vice Roy's ward and you have displeased me." Her little white hand made a gesture as though Romero's chances were being crumpled up and cast aside, and the negro cowered away before her. For Clayton, however, spent and tired and with his head aching cruelly from a blow received in his fight with the soldiers, everything seemed to spin round in a topsy-turvy way, then all became darkness. When he opened his eyes the place was vacant except for Senorita Inez, who was bathing his forehead. " Be still," she said, " they heard a bugle, the cowards, and ran away." "But you?" " Eh, you are inquisitive. I was also running, but I heard you groan and came back back " Faint and far away sounded a bugle, then the swing of men's voices singing, " The air is dark, the night is chill, Come, Charcoal-burner, tend the fire, The fire that gleams from vale and hill, Come, charcoal-burner, tend your fire." 52 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL Clayton leaped to his feet. " Is it true? Are you the Vice Roy's ward? " " Si, Senor." " Quick, then " As he spoke, he caught up a cloak made of a blanket, dropped by the child he had rescued. " Put this about you, let down your hair, eh pull off your shoes and stockings." " Eh, Madre a dios, are you insane? " " No but those bugles, the song, it is a party of II Liberator's soldiers. If they find you, suspect you of being the Vice Roy's ward ! " She understood him instantly. " Eh, Jesu ! I shall pretend to be a poor girl, a poor Creole girl, as when I had my adventure, eh, Jesu ! such an adventure, eh, senor? " He nodded. " Eh, you might look elsewhere," she said. He turned his back, a soft rustling of skirts " But not too long." He turned. Before him stood again the poor Creole girl her hair flowing unbound, a blanket cloak about her. From beneath it peeped a very white foot. Following his glance, the girl blushed and dug her feet into the mold. AND THE VICEROY. 53 The next minute there entered from all sides, at once, a throng of wild-looking men some in uniforms, some with none. Of those in uniforms, no two were alike. Of those without, the cos- tumes varied from the blankets of the peon to the dingy citizen's dress of London, but all were dirty and most were ragged. Hita 54 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL CHAPTER III. A POOR CREOLE GIRL MEETS A POOR SOLDIER HIDING IN THE GRASS. CURT orders were given. " Axemen, clear away ! " " First detail ! " " Second detail I " and various groups began swiftly, with axes and machetes, to cut away the grass and hew down the jungle. In a twinkling, a camp was formed, a cannon, a small field-piece, placed in position, the smoldering fire kindled again to life, while beside it a rude table was constructed of planks torn from the hut. While this was going on, an officer in a faded French uniform approached Clayton and the girl. He was the frog-catcher Clayton had left waiting to see a lady. His white mustaches were still curled to a point and he bore himself as AND THE VICEROY. 55 jauntily and erectly as when, ten years earlier, he had ridden beside Napoleon. As Clayton saw him, he uttered a cry of wel- come, which the officer repeated then swept a bow to Inez as gallantly as he had once saluted Josephine. "And Mademoiselle? Eh! I have, I think, seen her before." " Impossible," said Clayton. " A poor Creole girl who saved my life." " C'est magnifique a heroine, present me ! " " Senorita, permit me this is Colonel Du Plessis, a French gentleman, an old soldier of Napoleon." " And Mademoiselle," said Du Plessis. " What do you think of us? " " Eh ! Jesu ! " said Inez. " You are so many, I thought you annihilated and the strange uni- forms ! " " We are the foreign Legion of the Liberator gathered from four corners of the world, the prodigal sons, the bad boys soldiers of fortune from everywhere," Du Plessis swept his hand in a gesture to include the groups. 56 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL Another officer joined them, stiff and angular and insular, as different from Du Plessis in man- ner as chalk from cheese but as truly a soldier as the other. It was Gordon of the English guards, a penniless younger son, who had met * II Liberator ' on a foggy day in a London tavern and followed him across the sea. " Eh, hello, Clayton glad to see you got a mate, who is she? " He indicated Inez. Again Clayton made the introduction and again Inez asked some question about the en- campment, and this the Englishman answered after his fashion. " Isn't it the devil. Here we are hiding like muskrats in the grass. Can't see anything, can't hear anything five feet from the patch, grass so high, man on horseback can't be seen oh, my eye ! " Swift thoughts of the wonder and incredulity that would exist in the minds of the Spaniards only five miles away in the village, should she tell them of this strange army of foreigners at their very doors flitted through the girl's mind, but the current of her thoughts was quickly in- AND THE VICEROY. 57 terrupted by the voice of still another officer, his form enveloped in a great cloak and to whom all seemed to pay the respect accorded those of high rank. " Ah, Senor Clayton, once more welcome and this? " Two hazel eyes looked at Inez sharply. They said to her, " You, yourself must answer me and I suspect you." So Inez answered as she felt herself bid. "Ah, Senor, I am a poor Creole girl a a maid of the Vice Roy's household." " Oh, a maid " polite incredulity gleamed in the hazel eyes. He exchanged glances with Du Plessis. " I see you may tell tales of me when you return, return to the Vice Roy's household." The tone was of a superior and Senorita Inez was not used to being so addressed, so she replied somewhat haughtily and was then sorry she had so replied. " Of you why, who are you? " A mocking smile crossed the officer's face. " A poor soldier hiding in the grass." In a moment Inez knew him. It was " II Lib- erator" himself, he who was blessed and cursed from one end of the Province to the other. 58 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL CHAPTER IV. HOW THE POOR CREOLE GIRL ROUSED A MUTINY. Now here was " II Liberator " and here was Senorita Inez. Clayton remembered her conver- sation of the week before and half challenged her with his look. She caught the look and was net- tled by it. The tall officer's hazel eyes also seemed to mock her. " A poor soldier hiding in the grass," said he. " Eh, quite so," said she, pulling a paper from her inner dress. " Eyes hazel, figure graceful, nose aquiline " " Pardon me, seiiorita," it was Clayton's hand that took the paper " It might be as well not to read that." " What is it? " The officer looked at Clayton, but Inez answered. " A proclamation, offering ten thousand pes- AND THE VICEROY. 59 atas for one called by some, ' II Liberator,' by others, the 'Arch Traitor ' dead or alive." " Ah and the poor Creole girl is interested in proclamations." The hazel eyes laughed at her. A wave of anger swept over her. " Yes, interested for " her voice rose loud and clear, it rang over the camp like a bell, so that every soldier heard, and as he heard, dropped whatever he might be doing and crowded about her " It offers his deluded followers, pardon and to the foreign legion, free passage home! " She uttered the words defiantly and the shadow of a cloud passed over the faces of the four men with whom she was standing. None so well as they knew the unstable equilibrium of the igno- rant native soldiers and the difficulty of preserv- ing discipline among the foreigners, particularly after the discouragement of the recent defeat. Already there was trouble cries of " Home, home," rose here and there, while others answer- ing, " Shame " pressed about the officers, jostling and crowding the girl. Here and there a hand stretched out to pluck at her cloak, and Clayton, though irritated by the girl's thoughtlessness, 60 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL grasped a sword and stood beside her, keeping back the crowd. " Eh, Sefiors we have children, wives why should we not go home? " said a peon. Another voice took up the complaint. It came f ' from a renegade Spaniard an officer. !: "Bah, yes we are thras&ed, /> beaten; 1 #ty should we-stayf"'^ ! ,biB9rf -joibloa v;i'r/> i*Phei 'girl's eyes sparkled: She Wa^ accomplish- ing her dreams again caine her clear bell-like voice! ! f >rno/f Dgrtagjsq oo'il lia " Vraiment," sard Du Plessls, ^ she will rd\is a mutiny." He advanced toward her fakea *schbol master about to shake a disobedient pupil. f| - L^^ ^'Stand back," said 'Clayton vjl) Liberator looked at her alone," he said, " oli " 1o AND THE VICEROY. 61 The officer looked at her smilingly. " No men shot, no women whipped, no children starving in a land of plenty?" he said. A shade of doubt crossed the girl's face and she answered less confidently. " Why yes there were, Senor but that must always be so." The camp was listening intently to the dia- logue, but the silence was interrupted. Donna Isabella, Seuorita Maria and Francisco, again lost and wandering in a circle had stumbled on the camp and had been challenged by the sen- tinels who were bringing them in. " Eh, Jesu ! " said Inez to Clayton, " think of something, so they will not speak, if they recog- nize me!" Her expressive gestures accentuated the words. Clayton pointed to the hut and Inez quickly and unperceived by her friends, vanished within. As Clayton turned, after seeing that the girl was free from observation, Francisco was volubly ex- plaining that they had been lost in the jungle and that after wandering for a long time in a circle, had stumbled on the camp. His explana- 62 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL tions were interrupted by fresh challenges from the sentinels and in another minute, a soldier came toward the table at which the officers were seated, carrying Carmen in his arms. " See, they have burnt her feet," he said. The soldier was Valdez, Carmen's father, half Indian, half Creole, who had left his child in the village to join the expedition. His eyes gleamed vengefully on the prisoners as they listened to the child's description of the barbarous treat- ment given her by Romero, who had stumbled on her as she was carrying food to Clayton, and of her rescue at the latter's hands. " Ma foi," said Du Plessis, " it would be jus- tice poetical to make them," he indicated the prisoners, " dance a rigoletto on hot coals also." His words, scarcely intended to be taken liter- ally, were caught up in dead earnest by the crowding soldiers, " Burn them ! Si, si, burn them ! " they said. Inez covered her face with her hands in the darkness of the hut and shud- dered. Of a sudden she started, an expression of won- der and of unbelief crossed her features as she AND THE VICEROY. 63 heard II Diablo, the Arch Traitor, sternly re- buking his men and the next instant, as she peered out through a chink in the hut, saw him, together with Clayton, Gordon and Du Plessis, keeping back the infuriated mob of the camp while he permitted his prisoners to with- draw. " God in heaven," murmured the girl. " In like case, our people would have killed them with- out mercy." Outside an angry voice was railing at II Liberator. Once more looking through the chink in the wall she noticed that the speaker was Gomez, a Spaniard a former officer of the Vice Eoy. " Pah, you are a poltroon to let them go. You a leader! I believe that woman," he meant Maria, " was the Vice Roy's ward he has one they say she is in the village. Did you notice her dress? You a leader! You are milk and water such a prize as she would have been such a hostage to save our necks bah, let us go home ! " " I make no war on women," said the General. " Well, where is the list of our friends, the people that were to join us the great plan the 64 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL victory we are beaten rotting in the jungle, let us go home ! " Inez came to the door of the hut. In spite of herself, her sympathies were with the General. II Liberator held out a paper to the officer. " Here, here/' said he, " is the list of our ad- herents read for yourself ! " Gomez snatched it and ran to the outskirts of the camp. " Kead it, read it," he cried, " yes but to the Vice Roy. It's a passport to safety and a for- tune. I desert! Who is with me?" " I " and " I " cried one and another. " Home " " Home " they shouted. " Seize him also, who has brought us here ! " The expedition was in open mutiny. Only Gordon, Du Plessis and Clayton stood by the General. Suddenly Clayton rushed to the fire, seized a burning brand and ran to the cannon. In front of it stood the huddled group of the mutineers ; on the left, the General with Du Pies- sis and Gordon. " Back," cried the American, " Back, you curs, or I fire into the midst of you." "Back cried the American. Back, you curs, or I fire. 1 AND THE VICEROY. 65 The advancing soldiers looked at Gomez for encouragement he laughed tauntingly. " Come on I desert who is with me? " he cried, and disappeared in the bushes. " I stand by II Liberator," cried Clayton. The girl looked at him. She must she would save this gallant American, who so appealed to her, from a mistake. " Senor, seiior," she cried, coming from the hut, " eh, you are an envoy do not throw in your lot with them eh, let me persuade you." Clayton was roused, however; discretion, his position, all told him the girl was right, but the cowardly mutiny, the treachery of Gomez, his sympathy for the General, his liking for Gordon and Du Plessis, his treatment by the Spanish, had roused all his American and Kentucky- American recklessness. " Envoy, no longer, I send my resignation in the morning," he shouted, " I'm in this thing now to a finish persuade me never ! " " Home, home," shouted back the soldiers. " Back, you curs ! " yelled Clayton. " Back ! This man " he pointed to II Liberator, " is a 66 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL soldier, a gentleman he scorns to speak to you listen ! " His vigor, the magnetism of the natural orator, silenced them and Clayton continued, and as he spoke, the girl, as though compelled against her will, came from the hut and drew nearer and nearer to him, while the cries of the camp became murmurs and then silence, and at last roars of enthusiastic approval, for it was 1821 and oratory was not yet a lost art, and oratory has always ruled the Latins, while Kentucky oratory was then ruling the United States and Clayton was a Kentuckian. AND THE VICEROY. 67 CHAPTER V. . '.' A SPEECH THAT MADE AN ALLY. " LISTEN," said Clayton. " Two weeks ago, II Liberator landed, after years of absence. With him these soldiers of fortune, some of the rest of you joined him he came at your invitation well you were five hundred the Spanish many thousand you were surprised, you were beaten." "Home, home," cried the soldiers. 'Listen ! Under his leadership, you scattered, to meet again to recruit your forces under the waving grass tops, bending under the flying shadow, concealing you in the midst of your enemies." " But the Spanish offer terms." " Terms listen You say that Spain offers terms. In 1811,11 Liberator was of those who freed Venezuela. The next year an earthquake 68 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL and the Spanish army drove him into exile. Listen the next year he came back again. Again he fought, again he was defeated Spain promised his officers, as Spain has promised you, pardon, justice, liberty ! Her pardon, gentle- men, was the gallows ; her justice, assassination ; her liberty, murder ! Terms ! Those are her terms ! " "Jesu! " said the girl "he is speaking the truth but why should he fight at all ? " The American caught the words and as if in reply, continued "There are those who ask why he should fight at all. Listen in all South America, gentlemen, education is forbidden, free speech unknown. It is death to make flour of one's own wheat, death to wear a ribbon not made in Spain. It is death even to read Gil Bias, death to read the children's book, 'Robinson Crusoe.' Bah why should he not fight?" The camp was still now the men leaning for- ward eagerly, listening. The girl was also ab- sorbed, fascinated by the speaker's words. " But he is rich, ambitious," she said. AND THE VICEROY. 69 " Rich, ambitious ! He ^tofi&& m : an 1[ in South America. He could' have kept those riches. He could have had any gift in the! pbwer of Spain to grant. But, Senors, he 1 left ; his estate's #y ^tne' singing Guayra. He endured poverty: He f r'e&f his slaves. He went into e^le. -He' fortune to 'the cause.' ' He 1 ish general, he rich ambitious'?^ 11 UO I ^taod is aB-/7filB98 007, " Madre a Dios, he is a man, a hero ! girl's smiled a ^it^t^la^fti^'J^^^d^ ^qfiiSia%lg "fie fife feB^ IdffeifbrWis^enee" 1 ^' ofl bflA " " You say because he i iet weafe ." cotomatatej i Sou6h Aittetifca^^ 9ili ,639 Y 9ifi ^o lB)iqBO orli " Ah," said the girl, " I believe it is tr t a-iorio8 fight the fight alone. Will you desert him or go 70 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL home? To your homes, the road is free, the path- way easy! But eh, Senors! adventurers! you English younger sons, if you love to back the weaker party; you exiled gentlemen of France, who have fought beneath every flag but your own for twenty years; you Irishmen who were out in '98 and you, my countrymen, you runaway boys from West Point, you sailors without a ship, you scalawags at home, you heroes abroad, do not go home ! " A roar of enthusiasm swept the camp. The mutiny was forgotten, the day was won ! Du Plessis spoke as the cheering subsided. "And now, mon General the plan of cam- paign, when, whither?" " Senors," said II Liberator, " it is to march, fifteen hundred miles across the continent and fall like a thunderbolt on the City of the Hills, the capital of the Vega, the key to the con- tinent ! " " But, Senors, Senors " interrupted a voice, " between that and us is tropical jungle, fever, pestilence and famine; beyond, the Andes, glitter- AND THE VICEROY. 71 ing with ice and snow and still beyond, a Span- ish array; here, a defile guarded by cannon ; there, a pass, that ten men could hold against an army and your friends who might help you, all known to the Vice Roy if Gomez reaches him with the list." " To prevent that," It was II Liberator who spoke " we, the army of Liberty, need a spy " " A spy ! " the exclamation came from Inez II Liberator turned to her smiling. " Senorita I know you I knew you when you first entered the camp. I have watched over you for years. Your father was my friend, a patriot. I have heard of you, heard of your pleas for mercy. Heard that in the Vice Roy's pres- ence, you have asked for gentler measures. I have had you in mind for months felt you should be of us. You are of us you were born in the country. I have wanted to see you, for Se* norita we need a spy ! " " A spy " The girl half murmured the words. Her bosom rose and fell with excitement. Again came the wonderful voice of II Libera- 72 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL tor, whose fascination created armies and fash- ioned three nations. " Some one who will reach the City of the Hills before us, someone who pities the murdered men, the tortured women, the little children. Some one to give us information, to tell what passes are guarded, what insecure. If a beggar comes asking alms, to listen to him ; if he wants infor- mation, to give it to him ; some one of lofty sta- tion, near to the government, unsuspected, un- afraid, a woman, a spy, a heroine who, Senorita, who?" The eyes of the camp were on her, the girl seemed to grow in stature; her rough cloak slipped from her shoulders. " Jesu ! I have seen a great light ! I would hear more ! " she said. II Liberator whispered to Du Plessis. " What ! Wonderful ! " said the Frenchman, evidently startled. " Will you not tell her? " " Not now ! " said II Liberator. Then he turned to the girl. " Listen ! " he said. AND THE VICEROY. 73 That afternoon, Inez y Perdita Diaz, ward of the Vice Roy of the King, who had desired to meet II Liberator to persuade him of his errors, pledged her word to act as II Liberator's spy. PART II. HOW THEY BROKE AND MADE BETROTHALS AND HOW A PRISONER WON A REPRIEVE. CHAPTER I. " A BEGGAR FROM THE MOUNTAINS." IT was the anniversary of the battle. A yi-ar had passed and for the better portion of the time the little Vice-Regal court had held its state among the mountains. On the return of Romero, Francisco and the others to the village, the Spanish had sent out a column to find and disperse the rebels, but the latter had vanished. Only the remains of the camp were found and the Vice Roy, though sus- picious, had finally agreed with his officers that II Liberator and his followers had either departed from the country or had died of fever in the jungle and that another period of quiet had inter- vened in that strange war of twenty years, that now blazed in fury and now smoldered and now died away altogether. 77 Leaving a strong force of soldiers, therefore, at the village, the Vice Koy, with his staff, his household and his ward, hurried swiftly as his means of conveyance permitted across the breadth of the continent, going in a stately procession of barges, rowed by Indians, up one great river and down another, then by mule back and palanquin until he reached the City of the Hills, the Capital, where he set about punishing those suspected of complicity in the rebellion. Day in and out, men were taken in the street or from their homes, hurried before a eourtmar- tial and, after a farcical trial, shot. Some were tortured to tell what they knew and some were killed without even a pretense of trial and Se- norita Inez, suddenly grown older and graver, heartsick of all she saw and grown wiser as to the meaning of the Revolution, never for an in- stant regretted the task she had assumed in answer to the arguments of " II Liberator." Now and then, mysterious messengers knocked at her lattice, now and then she even wore the revolutionary colors in her dress. It was on the day of execution, but beautiful, brilliant and AND THE VICEROY. 79 high-spirited, she was unsuspected, though in- doors and out she seemed never able to find her- self alone, but she danced with the young officers, she flirted with the old and from one and another, gleaned the information that by bouquets of flowers, by a ring, by many devices, she conveyed to messengers to be carried through the moun- tains to the advancing army and to Senor Thomas Clayton. As yet, all had gone well and but one thing worried her, the possible advent of Gomez with the list stolen from the Liberator's camp, but as the weeks lengthened to months and he did not appear, she began to think that all was safe and that the traitor had probably perished. It was the Vice Roy's custom to hold councils of his officers in the evening and on this night before the day of the anniversary of the battle, the council was so prolonged that it was nearly dawn before it was completed, so the Vice Roy announced his intention of not retiring, but of going to early mass. Senorita Inez had also made her plans for early mass, to which her friend Maria, the betrothed 8o THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL of Francisco, and still jealous of Inez, had agreed to accompany her. So Inez came in to the coun- cil room just as the meeting of the officers was about to adjourn. Just outside its broad latticed windows was a balcony and below the street and as Inez stood for a moment at the door, a watchman passed below, carrying a lantern on the end of a long pole, whose light flickered across the windows as he cried, " Sereno Sereno ! " A knock sounded at the broad door of entrance, opposite to that at which stood the girl a servant entered. " Your excellency, a ragged fellow without would speak with you." A premonition that perhaps this was Gomez made Inez start. " Let him attend at eleven," said the Vice Roy. " At the morning council when we welcome the American Commissioner sent by President Mon- roe at present, we go to mass. Inez ! " " I wait," said she, " Senorita Maria Mercedes Mendoza calls for me." The Vice Roy and his officers bowed with stately courtesy and withdrew, while, from with- AND THE VICEROY. 81 out, again came the voice of the watchman, " Se- reno Sereno the Vice Roy goes to mass." " Donna Isabella," said the girl, speaking to her duenna, who was in the next room, " Are you not ready?" " In a minute," replied the old lady, " what of the day?" " Sereno," said the girl, quoting the watchman, " and the Vice Roy goes to mass." Scarcely had the words left her lips when there resounded from without, shots, yells and the sound of some one escaping. The next moment, a man's figure, dressed in the hat and cloak of a beggar, appeared in the balcony just without the lattice. Fearing that it was one of II Libera- tor's messengers pursued by the patrol, the girl swiftly crossed the room. " Jesu, senor, who are you? " she said. The next moment she gave a cry, half of terror, half of delight, as she recognized beneath the cloak and hat, the face and figure of Clayton. " Eh, Jesu ! " she said. " What recklessness ! " Clayton spoke hurriedly, breathlessly " The army is already in the Andes, the foreign 82 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL legion already just above the city. Between the detachments, cannon have been placed, they will be captured this evening. Valdez, Carmen and I were sent ahead to warn you. We stumbled into the patrol. Carmen they did not touch, Valdez is captured. I escaped in the darkness here. To-morrow, two red lights burnt in succes- sion from the prison of the Capucins, which com- mands the hills, will mean, all is ready and the army will descend." As he spoke, suddenly the sun came over the Andes with a rush, for near the equator, there is no lingering dawn. The bell of the cathedral began to ring, below in the street came the shuf- fling sound of bearers with a palanquin. " It is probably Maria," said the girl. " Here, hide, and later " but Clayton stepped back and hid in the folds of the curtain that descended to the floor to the left of the lattice. A voice sounded from the street " Take me up there." In another minute, two negroes, carrying a light palanquin, appeared in the balcony. AND THE VICEROY. 83 CHAPTER II. HOW A BETEOTHAL WAS BROKEN. FROM between the curtains of the palanquin appeared the face of Maria. " Eh, Jesu," said she, ft Donna Isabella not ready?" Then to the bearers "Wait below." The men shuffled off. Inez turned anxiously toward the palanquin which had been left in the middle of the floor, only the curtains on one side, that toward Inez could be opened, so while Maria remained within, Clayton could not be perceived. As Inez stood hesitating, the sound of a guitar sounded without and the voice of one singing. "Eh, what?" said Maria. "Francisco seren- ading you shameful ! " The singing grew louder. As it did so, Donna Isabella appeared at an inner door, half dressed, her hair in curl papers. 84 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL " Inez, Inez," said she. " The girl cannot do my hair, she is an imbecile will the Vice Roy's ward?" Should Donna Isabella advance a foot fur- ther, Clayton would be discovered, so Inez, trust- ing to luck that Maria would stay in her palan- quin and that Francisco, once his song was con- cluded, would go away, hurried across the room to the duenna and taking her arm, led her through the door. As she did so, she made a warning gesture to Clayton to seize the opportunity to escape. Francisco, however, did not go away, but be- gan to improvise " Oh, dearest Inez, here I come singing, Oh, dearest Inez, here I come bringing, Oh, dearest Inez, Inez" As there was no response from the balcony, he began to mount the steps, but his voice broke on the high note and from all sides, shutters opened with a slam and night-capped heads ap- peared while the wrathful voices of a people, always famous for their musical taste, cried to him, " Learn to sing ! " AND THE VICEROY. 85 Somewhat abashed, he entered the balcony and noticing the palanquin, jumped to the conclusion that Inez was within waiting for her bearers. " Ah, most beauteous Seiiorita," said he. " I kiss your feet, your beautiful little feet." As he arrived at the last foot of his salutation, he perceived the malicious face of his betrothed, gazing at him from the curtains. " Oh, the devil," he cried, all taken aback. " I am not," said Maria indignantly. " I am your betrothed on my way to early mass, to pray for my enemies in all Christian charity." Her voice was meek as a cooing dove's when she reached the last words, but her eyes gleamed dangerously. " Ah," said Francisco, sanctimoniously. " I was singing a morning hymn." " Pah, how you lie ! " " Oh, your nerves, your beautiful little nerves, how they jangle," rattled Francisco. By this time, he had come quite to the center of the room and Clayton, though hugely amused, thought he might possibly slip away, and softly as a cat he began to edge around the corner of the window. 86 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL "Nerves?" said Maria. "That for nerves!" She snapped her fingers. " Our betrothal ends here, now ! Take your ring, take it to Inez ! " She tore the ring from her finger, a beautiful one, composed of an emerald, a topaz and a ruby, and threw it to Francisco. The latter caught it as it flashed in the sunlight and at the same instant perceived Clayton. He looked at him a moment in open-mouthed astonishment. Clayton, how- ever, was quick-witted, and pulling his great hat further over his face, extended his hands as though in supplication, while he whined in the tone of a true mendicant " Alms, gentle people, alms ! " " Madre a dios," said Maria, " where have I heard that voice and who is he from whence comes he? " " From the streets," said Francisco, completely deceived. " A beggar they are always skulking here." A thought struck him and he turned to Clayton. " Eh a bauble for you." He tossed him Maria's ring, then curled his mustache and looked superciliously at the girl. " Muchos gracias," whined Clayton. AND THE VICEROY. 87 " You scoundrel," hissed Maria to Francisco, for, woman-like, she did not care to lose beyond recall, the ring she had so lightly thrown aside. Francisco now concluded that he had been the mark of Maria's anger long enough, and that it was time to assert himself. " Eh Senorita," said he, " you go too far. I will give my alms where I will, I will sing to whom I choose, I will send what I please to whom- soever I desire ! " At this declaration of independence, Maria leaped from her palanquin in a rage. " Infamous," said she. " Infamous, not an- other minute in this place." And almost in hysterics, she walked to the door, stamping her little heels at every step and muttering all sorts of anathemas against Inez and Francisco, while the latter, somewhat disturbed, followed her, picking up one after another, her mantilla, her handkerchief and a rose from her hair which she dropped in her career. In a moment, they had both left the room, leaving Clayton. 88 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL CHAPTER III. COLONEL GOMEZ BLUNDERS. FOR a moment Clayton listened to the retreat- ing voices, then turned to greet Inez, who, having disposed of Donna Isabella, entered, as the voices of Maria and Francisco died away in the distance. As she crossed the room, a ray of sun- light fell full upon her. " She's the prettiest sight," thought Clayton, " in all South America." " Ah, my dear, my dear " she was saying, all reserve thrown away in the relief of finding him unrecognized. " I am so happy you are here, so glad you are here." " I am come for my betrothed," he said. " Eh, carramba, but you are sudden. Eh the etiquette is, you should make proposals to the Vice Roy." "Eh, the cold northerner ! Oh, the impassive Yankee ! " AND THE VICEROY. 89 "And be hanged," said Clayton. " Eh, yes would it not be worth while eh, but your ways are strange." " Adopt them," said Clayton. He had dreamt of this moment by wild camp- fires, in the damp of the jungle, the cold of the Andes, and was bound on carrying his point. " Eh, Senor ah, my soul, ah ! what is hap- pening to me? " said the girl. She swayed toward him in sudden emotion. He caught her in his arms and kissed her again and again, while she, half laughing, made but small protest except to whisper ! " Eh, the cold northerner ! oh, the impassive Yankee! oh, shameful, I made the first pro- posal ! " The house was very still ; from the street came now and then the shuffle of feet, the tinkle of mule bells. The great white peaks of the Andes glittered above the opposite roofs. To Tom and Inez, war and rumors of war were forgotten. The deep tones of Tom, the silvery exclamations of Inez, all of other things, of more intimate things than " II Liberator " or the Vice Roy filled 90 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL the flying moments, but outside at the foot of the steps leading to the balcony, in the sunny shad- owless street, crouched a child, her face white, her hair tangled. Now as a soldier or a priest passed her she pressed against the wall, trying to make herself as inconspicuous as possible, but as a long string of mules carrying silver, came clat- tering through the narrow way, she rose and sped rapidly up the steps into the balcony and then to the room. It was Carmen, the child Clayton had rescued the year before and who had accompanied her father, Valdez, in the long march across the con- tinent and had come with him into the city, as it was thought her presence would serve to better disguise them. " Senor Senorita," she cried imploringly, " what of Valdez, my father you, Senorita, you can surely save him," for the cjiild knew that though she had gotten safely away with Clayton that morning, that for Valdez, a prisoner, would probably be a sudden execution and time was pressing. Just as she spoke, Clayton was again imprint- AND THE VICEROY. 91 ing a kiss on Inez' lips and at the interruption, he sprang away. " Oh, nice day, isn't it? " he said. The words " nice day " caught Inez' attention and all the perils by which they were surrounded crowded upon her imagination. " Eh Jesu ! " she said, " a nice day all sereno and the Vice Roy goes to mass, you in danger, Valdez about to be shot, II Liberator in the Andes eh, yes a nice day ! " " I only meant," said Clayton, " oh, I don't know what I meant ! But see here, cheer up we will save Valdez somehow. Gomez never has brought the list and only give us a dark night and the Liberator will be here and our troubles over." A roll of drums and the clang of trumpets echoed from the street. As Inez heard them, a cloud of fear seemed for a minute to descend on her brave spirits. Perhaps the very presence of Clayton made her feel more keenly the responsi- bility resting on her girlish shoulders. " The guard is changing," she said, in answer to Clayton's look of interrogation. " Mass is nearly over. Then they will ask Valdez to con- 92 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL fess, then shoot him. Gomez never has come to the city, but I feel that he is waiting, waiting like a tarantula I feel it in my bones. A dark night! These days are dark enough and death comes shuffling through the dark. Jesu ! " She ended with an exclamation of fear, for, as though in answer to her prophecy, a step came shuffling down the corridor beyond the great door of en- trances, while the voice of a servant, announced, "Colonel Gomez!" Like a startled humming-bird, Carmen flew across the room, and through the door leading to the rooms beyond, while Clayton dived into Maria's palanquin and drew the curtains. The servant had made his first announcement a little way down the corridor from the entrance. By the time he reached the door, only Inez could be perceived and she stood hesitating as to what course to pursue. " He has flowers a message from Lieutenant Francisco," continued the servant. "Let him wait!" As she spoke, she knotted her handkerchief into a mob-cap, tore her mantilla from her shoulders AND THE VICEROY. 93 and began dusting furiously for she remem- bered that the year before, Gomez had seen her at the camp in the character of a maid. Gomez, ragged and footsore, had been in the city nearly a month and had tried vainly, time and again, either to see the Vice Roy or Seuorita Inez, but always the servants or the guards, on ac- count of his rags and poverty, had kept him from an interview. He had heard from a stray peon, during his wanderings, the strange tale of the promise of the Vice Boy's ward to act as a spy for II Liberator. That the poor Creole girl he had seen in the camp was this ward, however, he did not know. The idea had become fixed in his mind that Maria, who had been brought in as a prisoner, was the beautiful Seilorita Inez, who the common people whispered among themselves, was a friend of the Revolution. That morning, Francisco, his irksome betrothal with Maria broken, as we have seen, had made up his mind to immediately begin court in earnest to Inez, and as the first move of the campaign, wrote a letter of adoration, couched in most beau- tiful blank verse, bought an enormous bouquet, 94 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL and seeing Gomez idling in the street, dispatched him with the flowers and note as his messenger. Arriving at the residence, Gomez had made known his errand to the servant, but fearing a re- buff, followed the latter at a little distance, as he went forward to announce him, for Gomez was determined not to let this chance of the long- sought interview escape him. As the servant turned to ask him to wait, Gomez brushed him aside and entered the room only to find, to his chagrin, a maid, as he sup- posed, engaged in dusting. " Flowers for your mistress," said the Colonel gruffly to the supposed maid, " call her." Senorita Inez did not like the tone and for a moment forgot her assumed character. " Mistress? " said she haughtily. Gomez looked up startled at the voice. In a moment, a look of recognition passed across his features, he remembered her, " the maid attached to the Vice Boy's household," she had called her- self at the camp. " Eh," said he, " I have seen you before in II " he was about from habit to say ' Liberator/ AND THE VICEROY. 95 but remembering where he was, changed the epithet to Kenegado, " in II Renegade's camp," he continued. " You are far too pretty to have a mistress but call her, call this Senorita Inez." " Thank you for the compliment, Senor," said she, courtesying politely, " shall I take the flowers and the message? " For a moment the thought entered her mind that the message might be the stolen list and that fate was to give her an easy possession of the document, but Gomez had no intention of being cheated of his interview. His face darkened, his voice grew harsh. " No," he snarled, " I want to see Senorita Inez, I want to see the Vice* Roy. I am in the house, here I stay stay till I do see one or the other. Now, you call your mistress." As he spoke, he seized Inez by the shoulders none too gently, whirled her about and pushed her from the room, then slammed the door behind her and locked it, then called through the closed door " No one comes through that door except your mistress call her ! " 96 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL CHAPTER IV. SENORITA MARIA BARGAINS FOR A LIST. WITH his hand on the door-knob, he turned to glare about the seemingly empty room, for Clay- ton, hidden as we have described, had shifted his position in his narrow quarters, not made for his inches and Gomez was at once on the alert. His attention, however, was diverted, for, from the corridor came the voice of Maria, returning to take charge of her deserted palanquin. " Don't announce me, I left my palanquin here, my fan is in it." The next moment she entered, and Gomez, recognizing her as the prisoner of the camp and thinking she was Inez, at once addressed her. " Seiiorita ! " She saw a ragged, savage-looking fellow, but as it was the Residence, thought he might be some AND THE VICEROY. 97 officer just returned from the wilderness, so she swept a courtesy. " Senor ! " Gomez advanced toward her, all eagerness. " I saw you in the rebels ' camp a year ago," he said. " I have a message for you from Lieu- tenant Francisco he was with you then." As he spoke, he softly closed and locked the great entrance doors opposite the door through which he had pushed Inez. " Si si, senor," Maria spoke eagerly. " Let me hear it eh " She noticed him fumbling with the lock. " What are you about " " He said Senorita Inez would welcome it," said Gomez. " I mean her to welcome it undis- turbed." At the word " Inez," Maria was aflame in an instant. " Inez, Inez for Inez Bah ! Give it to me ! " She advanced with outstretched hand. Gomez held up a paper, but stepped away from her so that he was between Maria and the window. " Not yet," said he. 98 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL " Why not? " " The flowers, the love-letter," he pointed to them scornfully as they lay on the floor where he had dropped them. " Yes, but here here is another kind of letter, how much will you give me for it? " " Sanctuse spiritu ! " said Maria. " You are touched, you gibber give me the letter." " Shall I take it to the Vice Koy? " " Take what to the Vice Roy? " Gomez looked at her angrily as she asked the question. A dull red suffused his features did she think him a fool? He would speak plainly. " Your warrant for execution. You are deal- ing with Colonel Gomez late of II Liberator's army. You were that army's spy; a camp fol- lower told me; a thousand heard you. This " he waved, threateningly, the paper in his hand, " is the list of his adherents in the city. With it I can buy safety pardon mercy from the Vice Roy shall I go to him, or will you give more? You thought yourself safe. II Liberator and his men all swallowed up in the jungle but you are not safe. I am here if the people on this list AND THE VICEROY. 99 are accused will you be unaccused will they not accuse you? You know these people how much you see I am here." Maria could scarcely follow the rapid words. Stupidly she repeated, " You are here. Of course you are I see you ! " " Corpse of Abraham ! " fairly shouted Gomez. " Don't I speak plainly? How much will you give for it? You have many jewels, a pretty little white neck. Tchick how the garotte would snap it." " Let me see it." He held it so she could read it. " Bah," he hissed, " who holds that paper, holds body and soul the ward of the Vice Roy of the king." " Did Francisco really send those flowers by you to Inez to to me? " " The devil yes what of it? " " Carramba, I will get even blood of the saints, but I have her buy yes, I will buy give it to me! " " A small preliminary the price." ioo THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL " Bah ! you may be an impostor you would rob me ! " " I am a desperate man, starving, shaking with fever in danger of death. Take all your rings, your gold chain, all the money in your purse, place them in a pile by the window. I put the paper here," he pointed to the floor near the pal- anquin. " To-morrow morning, you or your lover, will give me more money, a passport out of the country. You can get it, you are the Vice Roy's ward. I need it. If I stay here, some of these rascally patriots will assassinate me. Come, I will sell cheap to you no one will be the wiser." " Yes yes," said Maria. As she spoke, she hurriedly made a little heap of her jewels and money by the window. Gomez watched her, and as she turned toward him, he placed the paper on the floor by the pal- anquin. A moment after, all unperceived, Clay- ton thrust his hand from the curtains and snatched the paper. Meanwhile Maria advanced toward the palanquin, Gomez toward the win- dow. AND THE VICEROY. 101 CHAPTER V. IT BECOMES NECESSARY FOR SENORITA INEZ TO LOOK THROUGH A LATTICE. As Maria reached the place where she had seen Gomez drop the paper, she gave a shriek of dis may " Thief ! Robber ! The list is gone you have cheated me you are the Devil ! " she cried. Gomez, at the words, thinking that she had the list and was about to denounce him, made an angry exclamation and neglecting the heap of jewels and money, darted through the open lat- tice to the balcony and thence to the street. As he did so, Inez began pounding on the locked door to the left, crying " Open ! Open ! " for hearing the cries, she feared that Clayton had been discovered and 102 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL that her wits might be necessary for both his sal- vation and her own. Maria, as she heard Inez's voice, rapidly crossed the room and unlocked the door. " Oh, you dear ! " said she as it opened. " What a dreadful time ! " " I heard you scream, what was it? " " I have been robbed by the Devil ! " " And no one interfered ! " " Who should interfere? " " Why, why," said Inez, her thoughts intent on Clayton, " Francisco went away with you." At this, Maria suddenly remembered her griev- ances, her eyes caught the bouquet lying neg- lected on the floor. She spitefully stamped upon it. " Bah, Francisco ! " she cried. " You have robbed me of him! You are all robbers here, a den of thieves ! I could assassinate you ! " She bent over and snatching up the bouquet, hurled it in a rage, at Inez. Being a woman and an angry one, the bouquet flew wide of the mark, flying straight between the curtains of the palan- quin and disclosing the corner of Clayton's cloak. AND THE VICEROY. 103 " Pesta ! " she cried. " Is he here, now there " As she spoke, Clayton, knowing he was discov- ered, stepped from his place of concealment and for a moment, his quick wits deserted him. The conversation overheard, had made him for the moment almost as jealous of Francisco as was Maria of Inez. " I want to know the truth of this," he said, turning to Inez. " About Francisco," " Jesu, hush ! " she replied, grasping the situa- tion and in a panic of fear for his safety. " It is a mistake ! She is mistaken ! " Then turning to Maria, whose black eyes were nearly starting from their sockets with curiosity and surprise, she continued : " Merely a beggar ; a poor man to whom I was giving alms." " Senor beggar," said Maria, " your hands are very white." " Hunger has made them so," returned Clay- ton, hoping that he could carry on the deceit. But Maria was not to be deceived. She plucked aside his cloak and revealed the American uni- form of 1820, in which Tom had chosen to array 104 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL himself in case he should by chance be arrested, thinking that the uniform might help him to escape the fate of a spy. " Jesu, who are you?" said Maria. " Ha, ha ! " laughed Inez, somewhat hysteric- ally. "A jest!" " A jest ! " snapped Maria. " A man and in uniform pah in your house, in concealment, no duenna, oh, shocking ! " " Oh, Maria, believe me," cried Inez, at her wits' end, but thinking that a half truth might still save the day. " He is an American, as you say, Senor Clayton, recently arrived from the United States. He has important business " " In my palanquin," snapped Maria. " With with the Vice Roy ; the Vice Roy has said that that all Yankees are beggars and so, ha, ha! you see, don't you? " It was thin, too thin. Maria did not believe it for an instant, still on the other hand, she was far from suspecting the truth. " Eh, bosh ! " she said, " why was he in my palanquin?" " Oh," said Clayton, " I am a Yankee and AND THE VICEROY. 105 curious, never saw one before wanted to ex- amine it." As he spoke, Maria's face lighted with recogni- tion. The instant he addressed her, she knew him. " Eh, relics of Ananias, but I know you," she cried. "Eh you are a traitor! A spy! I saw you in the Rebels' camp a year ago. Inez begged you off in the jungle! You are concealed here, why are you concealed here? And she she Inez the Vice Roy's ward who steals my lover what has she to do with it? " She paused a moment, her. hands clenched, her brow wrinkled in her efforts to quite grasp the solution almost within her knowledge. " Blood of the saints," she continued, " I see I see this was arranged. You stole the list hey, hello guards help ! " Inez and Clayton looked at each other aghast, but now Clayton's stray wits were at work and he resolved that a bold stroke might yet win. " She, she," he cried, pointing to Inez, " has nothing to do with me ask Lieutenant Fran- cisco." io6 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL He had struck the right chord. Maria was all attention. " I I thought she might care ah, what didn't I think when 1 came here bah ! " He turned melodramatically to Inez, but winked his right eye slowly and solemnly to show her he was playing a game. " I heard you, I saw you accepting his protes- tations, his flowers are sent you his love-let- ters to you I find on the floor," he waved the list tragically. Inez, alas! was South American and Spanish and knew not the meaning of the Anglo-Saxon wink. At Clayton's words, she shrank back aghast. Maria also was Spanish and she believed him. His action she could understand. Ah, what an outrage, that such fine fellows as Clay- ton and Francisco should be deceived by that minx Inez. " Bah, Senor," she cried, " You have found her out. You are lucky, help me be revenged upon her, she is false to us both." " She will understand," said Clayton, solemnly and again winking at Inez, but now Inez was AND THE VICEROY. 107 aroused. Her Spanish blood was boiling at what she thought Clayton's treachery. " You both insult rne ! " she blazed in indigna- tion. " You Maria, my friend ! You you, ah, Seuor, I, I, should have trusted you if all the world accused you, if all denied you, I should have defended you and at a word, a breath " Maria interrupted her. She looked too dan- gerously handsome, she spoke too eloquently, did Inez, she w r ould win back her Yankee. " Eh, I cannot talk like that," she said. " If I could, you should be singed, roasted. Come, Senor, she is a false woman to you, to me ! " She seized Clayton's arm and tried to make him accompany her to the open window and Clayton apparently consented, but turning sharply to Inez, said : " Can you not see through the lattice? " Surely this would make her understand. " Eh, lattice? " said she dully. In another moment, Clayton and Maria had passed into the balcony and down the steps to the street. io8 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL CHAPTER VI. OLD UNCLE TOM OF LOUISVILLE. As Clayton and Maria left the room, there caine a knocking at the great entrance doors that Gomez had locked and Inez, weeping bitterly, hysterically, turned to unfasten the bolts. As she fumbled at them, the doors suddenly swung open and an old gentleman, with white hair and mustache and looking curiously like Torn, stumbled through them, almost into the girl's arms. " I have an appointment with the Vice Roy," he said, then, suddenly noticing the tears, not yet dry on Inez' cheeks, he continued in English, quite impulsively: " Why, honey ! honey ! what is the mattah? " The tone and the words too w r ent at once to the girl's heart. She understood a little English, and quite as a matter of course, answered him. AND THE VICEROY. 109 " Matter, Seiior, my heart is broken." Then she stopped abruptly, remembering that she was speaking to a total stranger. " Eh, what? " she continued, " I forget myself pardon me. Seiior, I do not know you, but even if I do not know yon, I should welcome you, in the Vice Roy's absence, to his house. Be seated, Senor," she swept a courtesy. " Have my servants neglected you?" " Not at all, not at all they were slow in coming, the doors were open, I entered. I am Judge Clayton of Kentucky, the new American Commissioner." Inez looked her delight at the announcement of the name. Tom had told her of his relatives in Kentucky ; perhaps the judge was one of them, he looked like Tom. " Not old Uncle Tom of Louisville," she said. " Eh, what? " said the Judge. " That sounds as though you knew my nephew Tom, old indeed, pah!" " Madre a dios, Senor can it be. But he is here, your nephew and in danger, oh, such danger ! " no THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL "And was that making you cry your eyes out?" " Si, si, Senor, lie has just arrived. You must defend him. He I oh, he thinks I am false to him and I " she began to sob again. "Where's he gone? " said the Judge. " With with Maria. They have just left the house." "Eh, I'll go after him! I'll skin him alive! I'll eat him up, he must come back." And the Judge hurried, in his turn, through the open lattice to the balcony and thence to the street. As he vanished, poor Francisco, at the most unfortunate time he could have chosen, en- tered, to learn the fate of his flowers and his blank verse. " Senorita," he said, " I kiss your feet, I am at your feet." His bow, as he spoke, swept below his knees, his face seemed to ooze sentiment. " Oh, Senor, go away, go away." As Inez spoke, she clapped her hands, the signal to sum- mon her servants. One of them appeared, al- most immediately, at the door. " Call Donna Isabella," said Inez. AND THE VICEROY. in " Senorita you break my heart, clap your little white hands again eh, Jesu ! delay the in- exorable duenna eh, listen, I have broken with Maria, I, I " Francisco poured out his words with eagerness, but as he did so, Donna Isabella entered and both heard and saw him. Her romantic old heart was stirred. That she should be summoned to hear a proposal was quite the proper etiquette. " Eh an avowal proceed ! " said she. Francisco immediately dropped to his knees, but this did not please Donna Isabella. " No, no " she protested. " That is not the way the etiquette is that you advance with your hand upon your heart." As she concluded, Judge Clayton entered again by the balcony. He had seen Tom in the distance, just bidding farewell to Maria, and had motioned him to return, and Tom, recognizing him, was on his way. As the judge entered, Inez made a gesture, ex- pressive of absolute disgust at Francisco's pro- ceedings, which the old Kentuckian understood on the instant, but his sense of humor was hugely H2 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL tickled at the idea of a young man making a proposal in the presence of a third party, though when he had been longer in the country, he dis- covered it was quite a matter of course. " Donna Isabella, this is Senor Judge Clayton, of Kentucky," said Inez. " Senor, this is Donna Isabella, my duenna." The old lady courtesied. " Eh, Sefior, the Aide-de-Camp of the Vice Hoy makes his avowal to Senorita Inez 'tis beauti- ful." She waved her great fan in a most encouraging manner to Francisco. " Proceed," she commanded. " Twinkling star," began Francisco. " Eh," said Judge Clayton, " I want a chance." "Sefior!" " Now you needn't think you can make all the avowals." " Quite correct, quite correct," said Donna Isabella. " So did the dukes Mendoza and Cuazco make their avowals for she who became the wife of Mendoza. "'Tis a famous Spanish memory." AND THE VICEROY. 113 " You first, Cuazco," said the Judge. " Dearest senorita," began Francisco. " For you my " " Hey, give Mendoza a chance," said the Judge. " Mah dream, mah passion Bah ! Ahm only used to saying 'your Honah and Gentlemen of the Jury ' ! I honey you send that old woman and this boy away and Ah will talk to you, Ah will Tom is here, he has come back." As he was speaking, Tom Clayton entered. " Inez, Inez," said he, " could you not see through the lattice? " " Carramba," shouted Francisco, in wrath. "Among you, you make a jest of me, but you shall find that here is something that is not a jest." He pointed to Tom and now he recognized him. " You were with II Liberator will you ex- plain that?" He advanced threateningly toward the young American. The latter roughly thrust him back. " Stand away," he said. " I am not a patient man and this time my arms are not bound as they were in the jungle." ii4 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL Inez clasping and unclasping her hands, sud- denly remembered that Tom's uncle was the American Commissioner. " Here is his uncle," she said. " He will ex- plain." The Judge was already bristling at seeing "one of his kinsfolk in an altercation with a stranger and on Inez's suggestion, turned fiercely to Fran- cisco. " See here, you ! I don't know you ! But this is my nephew, Tom Clayton of Kentucky, an American citizen, a friend of Seiiorita Inez. I am commissioned by President Monroe of the United States." Francisco bowed with perfect courtesy. The Vice Roy's staff had already been instructed to treat the prying envoy with distinguished con- sideration. " You vouch for him, Senor, it is sufficient." Then turning to Tom, " Senor, I apologize, adios," and he bowed farewell. As he left the room, however, he spoke in an undertone to Tom, showing that there was another reason than the words of Uncle Tom, for his action. AND THE VICEROY. 115 " Senor, get out. Eh you appreciate, I would not get others in trouble," he indicated Inez by a lift of the eyebrow and was gone. " Now, you young scoundrel," said the Judge to Tom. " Since Henry Clay got your resigna- tion, we haven't heard a word from you. I came down here mainly to find you. I believe you are in a mess fact is, you are always in a mess. Don't get me into one, but, you damned fool! Look at that pretty girl who has been crying her eyes out about you. Come, Donna." He turned to Isabella, offering his arm. She, scandalized at leaving Inez alone with this mys- terious and handsome young man, made some protest. "Eh, what? Oh, it's all right, Donna, come along," said the Judge and overcome by the rapid and incisive action of this American Cabal- lero, who looked like a nobleman, addressed her with the manner of a lover and was no more to be resisted than a hail-storm, she followed him from the room. u6 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL CHAPTER VII. TOM CLAYTON LEARNS A THING OR TWO ABOUT SPANISH SWEETHEARTING. As they departed, Tom approached Inez, hut the girl had not forgiven him and her manner plainly indicated her feeling of insult. " Inez, Inez," said Tom, " we are in danger of death. Every hour, every minute, we must play the part. I had to do as did. In another mo- ment, Maria would have denounced us both. I warned you, I asked you if you could not see through the lattice." " But Senor, you accused me. She heard you, you left me for her, you looked at her, oh, so soft, so soft, and in a minute you expect me to forgive you, in the twinkling of an eye, to accept your explanations." " Yes, that is it," said Tom, in his turn angry. AND THE VICEROY. 117 " The woman's way always our explanations, your forgiveness! Why shouldn't you explain. This Francisco is all over the place, he permeates it. He looked at you like a lover. I don't like his looks, by Cricky, I don't like Francisco and I don't like you to like Francisco." He had chosen the right way Inez was sun- shine again. " Eh, well, Senor Bluebeard," she laughed. " I don't like you to suspect me and I don't like you to say < by Cricky ' ; I don't like you to like Fran- cisco, for I like you pretty well, Senor Tommy (Thomocito, she called it). Eh, yes, I do and for all my jealous Spanish blood, I wouldn't have ac- cused you or suspected you as you know you did me, not for a minute." As she spoke, she was coming nearer all the time and was finally patting his coat-sleeve. As she did so, she caught sight of Maria's ring still on his finger where he had placed it after re- ceiving it from Francisco. " Eh, what ! " she cried sharply. " Whose ring is that on your finger? A lady's ring! Eh, let me see it! Bah it is her ring, Maria's ring. I n8 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL have seen it on her finger for months. What right have you to wear her ring? What right to have her give you a ring, to talk with her long enough to know she had a ring ! " Clayton looked at her aghast. " Why, why let me explain," he stuttered. " Eh ! Jesu ! explain ! " said the girl, all the perils in which they were encamped thronging to her mind. " My God, what will you not have to explain, but not to me ! " AND THE VICEROY. 119 CHAPTER VIII. THE VICE ROY CONDEMNS JUDAS IN COUNCIL. WITHOUT, sounded suddenly a fan-fan of trumpets and the voice of a herald " Make way, make way the Vice Roy, Viva il Rey ! " Through the wide entrance doors thronged the little Vice Regal court, gorgeous and glittering in color, for the Vice Royalties still had the mines of the Indies at command, and there were still places where the officers of the king, rode on streets paved with silver and had their horses' bridles studded with jewels and their state gar- ments heavy with the gold of their embroideries * and the officers of the Vice Roy's staff and the ladies of his household and the Creole magnates *This is related of the Governor-General of Peru, not much earlier than the time of the story. 120 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL admitted to his society wore on their backs the price of many a European barony, though the private soldiers might have no shoes and the mass of the population not much else than a blanket for covering. The Vice Roy, himself, however, preferred to appear in the rough robe of a Capucin, the more to accentuate the harshness of his aspect and the terror of his judgments. Frequently, he himself, when a culprit was brought before him, seized a whip from one of the guards and laid it across the shoulders of the prisoner. This morning, he was expecting to judge the prisoners captured in the street and as he seated himself, looked even more harsh and forbidding than usual. About him were grouped his officers. In front, stood Judge Clayton, presenting his credentials. Here and there were various ladies and gentlemen, the former wearing their graceful mantillas and idly waving their great fans, the latter twisting their mustaches, haughtily, though with curiosity, looking at Tom Clayton or pay- ing their court to Inez, Maria, who had come in, or to some other of the ladies who were the reign- AND THE VICEROY. 121 ing belles of the little city. To attend the Vice Roy's residence in the morning, was all in the ac- customed day's routine for society. Judge Clayton, having finished presenting his credentials, proceeded to introduce Tom, though* with some inward qualms at the position in which he himself would be placed if his nephew should be, as he already suspected, connected with the revolutionists. " High Mightiness," said he, " I wish to pre- sent my nephew, he concerning whom I had writ- ten. I had feared he was dead. He came hither disguised as a beggar, to escape to escape mos- quitoes in the Andes. He is an ex-officer of the American army and wears our uniform to do you honor." The Vice Roy rose and bowed. " A miracle a Lazarus, in uniform, risen from the dead," he said. " I welcome you, Sefior, we can talk later," and he shot a keen look at Tom, " of mosquitoes and the Andes ah, I fear those Andes." Indeed he did, for unlike his officers, he was worried at the mysterious disappearance of II 122 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL Liberator and his army, and frequently thought of his slender garrison and of his city, com- manded by the mountains that walled it in. A sound of blowing conch shells sounded hoarsely through the Residence and a throng of the poorer people, swarthy Indians, negroes and general riff-raff entered. They bore with them a grotesque and horrible image of more than life size and mounted on wheels. The figure was intended to represent " Judas " and was always the characteristic feature of the festivals of the people. On all the public squares, on the days of festival figures of Judas were burned in effigy, let down by ropes from the por- tico of the Cathedral and hanged or kicked and cuffed in the streets. The giant Judas belonged to the government and by immemorial custom was judged on the morning of the day of festival by the Vice Roy in council and in the evening burnt at the Resi- dence. As the present day had been decreed as a fiesta in honor of the battle of the year before, Judas AND THE VICEROY. 123 had been brought to take his part in the proceed- ings. " Foh the love of heaven," exclaimed the Judge as the great figure, surrounded by the tatterde- malion rout, rolled into the room. " An old custom of the city," explained the Vice Koy. " At every festival, we condemn Judas in the morning; in the evening burn him. See, is he not curious? " He lifted the rough red and green robe that covered the figure and displayed a steel skeleton large enough to conceal a full-grown man. " In old times," continued the Vice Roy, " they would cage in him, some notorious criminal and burn him alive. If I ever catch the Arch Rebel " his look and the gesture that accompanied it, led the Judge to think that the Vice Roy would not be averse to continuing the custom. " Condemn him, condemn him," shouted the crowd. Francisco, as Judge Advocate, stepped for- ward. " Senor Judas," he said in the manner of a lawyer, "you have committed great crimes. If 124 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL you have not, answer ! " He paused as though to permit Judas to enter a defense, then shrugged his shoulders, carrying out the farce perfectly. " Senors, he does not answer, he is guilty ! Will you sentence him ? " As gravely as though a real criminal were be- fore him, the Vice Roy addressed the figure : " Judas, you shall be burnt alive, the proper fate of traitors ! " The Vice Roy glared at the people, some of them, Judge Clayton noticed, shrank away; even Tom, he thought, looked a little uneasy. " Yes, this evening," continued the Vice Roy, " at the Patio of the Residence in the presence of my guests." There was a ripple of applause and Judas was wheeled into a corner. As this was being done, an officer noticed Carmen, who was shrinking back among the crowd, a mandolin swung across her shoulder. "Eh, little one, do you dance, sing?" The words were kindly, affectionate even, but Tom Clayton shuddered. In a few moments, the child's father would probably be condemned to AND THE VICEROY. 125 death, yet in the shadow of daily tragedies these people could be interested in the farcical condem- nation of Judas or listen and applaud a child's dancing almost upon a grave. " Si, si," said Maria, " Seflor Vice Roy have her dance while we are waiting! " " Eh, don't," said Inez, " her father is one of the prisoners." " Bah ! what matters it, it will amuse me," said Maria. " Eh, I cannot sing," said Carmen. " There is something here," she pointed to her throat, " nor dance, eh, senors, they," she pointed to her feet, " are heavy." From the crowd, stepped a negro officer, Ro- mero, at whose appearance Tom Clayton changed his position so that the group of officers was be- tween the negro and himself. A muffled drum sounded without. " Behold," said Romero, " the dead men come now," he turned to Carmen and cracked the heavy whip he carried, about her, " dance, the Vice Roy desires it." At the sight, Judge Clayton clenched his hands 126 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL in a rage and was about to protest when there entered a sergeant, some soldiers, a priest and the prisoners, four in number, one of them Valdez. AND THE VICEROY. 127 CHAPTER IX. HOW SOME PRISONERS WERE GIVEN A CHANCE OP MERCY. " HALT ! " said the sergeant. " Why is this? " said Judge Clayton to Donna Isabella. " It is said there is some spy among us," she answered, "and every effort is being made to discover him. The Vice Roy also suspects that the Arch Rebel is still in the country and wants information but hush ! " Francisco, with the same manner in which he had addressed Judas, was speaking " Seilors," he began, addressing the prisoners, " pardon this delay, it is necessary. I am Judge Advocate, it is my duty." (None of these men had had a trial. ) " The Vice Roy, the represen- tative of our most Catholic Sovereign, Fernando, 128 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL the Well Beloved " all the ladies courtesied at the name, all the men with the exception of the Claytons and the prisoners, bowed, " decrees," continued Francisco's beautifully modulated voice, " that before execution, you, the con- demned, shall be asked severally, to confess the names of your confederates, the name of any spy, if such there be to you known. One of you is known to have been with the Arch Rebel, the others are Creoles born in this country, therefore probably rebels. In case any one gives us this information, most excellent Senors, instead of death, he shall be reprieved and but one may have the chance." " Remember," said the Vice Roy, " but one has the chance to live." " Pardoned? " said one of the condemned. " No, he shall be sent a life prisoner to Spain. But you interrupt, where was I?" " At the word l to live,' " said Inez. " Many thanks " (Muchos gracias), said Fran- cisco, looking at her, " but Jesu ! you yourself, wear the rebel colors." It was true, she had boldly, as a signal to the AND THE VICEROY. 129 prisoners that there was a friend at hand, thrown about her shoulders a light scarf of yellow, red and green. " But how becoming," said Francisco. The Vice Roy looked displeased. " Inez, you are thoughtless, those colors can never become one of my household." " Frantisco called them becoming." "Always Francisco," muttered Tom. " He at least compliments me," said Inez. " Pah," said Maria. " Disgusting," muttered Tom. " But I must continue," said Francisco. " Senors, if you do not confess, I must give the word and you are dead. It is very sad, the world is pleasant," he pointed out through the open windows where could be seen the great free peaks of the Andes. " The sun is bright," he paused to let them notice the bright rays that shone and glittered upon the brilliant dresses of the audi- ence. " The ladies," he swept a bow to them, " most beautiful," a clapping of white hands came from the donnas and senoritas. 130 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL " My God, do not applaud," said Carmen, " it is my father there that is about to be shot ! " Judge Clayton wiped away some moisture that troubled his eyesight. " This is most affecting," he said to Isabella. " Yes, is it not amusing? Francisco is most sadly eloquent on these occasions." " Come," said Francisco, sharply, " will you confess? " Inez and Tom grew rigid, they were on the brink of a precipice. " No," said the condemned, in unison, and yet one at least knew Inez was the spy and that a word would mean the passing of the shadow of death. " Senor Francisco," said Inez, " the condemned are more eloquent than you." " Ah, Senorita, can you not help us? " said Car- men. " I why no, why should I? " said Inez coldly. " Have a care to whom you speak," said Romero to the child. " Yes, don't ever speak to Romero," said Inez, then turning to the Vice Roy AND THE VICEROY. 131 " Eh Seiior Vice Roy, one of these men is called Valdez, he has an honest look. " Ah, Jesu ! but he has a little daughter ! " " Pah ! " said the Vice Roy, then to Francisco, " Proceed ! " " Sergeant," said Francisco, " Give me the list, I will call their prison numbers." The sergeant did so. " Number one, you were married last week, will you confess?" " No ! " " A traitorous 'no >," said Inez, " but what a brave one ! " " What did he do," said Judge Clayton. " Bought a ribbon not made in Spain," said the Vice Roy. " Your wife is already a widow, stand aside," said Francisco. " I will visit her," said Inez. The man looked at her gratefully. " Number two " continued Francisco. " You have an old father to support, will you confess? " " No," said the man. 132 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL " And what has he done? " said Judge Clayton. " Read < Gil Bias ' ! " said the Vice Roy. " What a wretch," said the Judge, but an in- dignant red spot burnt in each of his cheeks as he mentally filed away notes of his report to President Monroe. " How do you know all that?" he queried. "You have not seen them before." " Our prisons have ears," said the Vice Roy. tl Your father will soon stand beside you before God," said Francisco to the second condemned. " He will say, ' My son caused me to die of hun- ger.' " " I will see that the old man is fed," interposed Inez. " Bah, be careful," said the Vice Roy, " your position encourages these scoundrels." " Number three," said Francisco. " No," said number three. Only Valdez now remained and Carmen, Inez and Tom had al- most given up hope of helping him. "Number four," said Francisco. Valdez stepped forward. " This is your little girl," continued Francisco, AND THE VICEROY. 133 pointing to Carmen. " Look at your little girl, will you confess? " " High Mightiness, it is Valdez. Come, can you not reprieve him? " said Inez. " No," said the Vice Roy. " Senor," said Inez, turning to Valdez, " con- fess, confess, is not the Arch Rebel in Hayti? " She hoped by the hint to suggest to the man a way of escape, but he was dull, he had expected to say " no " like the others, and so when Inez asked him a question, all he could think of was still a " no." " No," said he. "Eh, what? Not in Hayti?" said the Vice Roy. " I will not confess," said Valdez. " Captain Romero shall be appointed your daughter's guardian," said Francisco. " I will not confess," persisted Valdez. " Ha, little lady," said Romero. " I'll make you dance." He cracked his whip suggestively. " For the love of Mary," pleaded Valdez. " He was taken in the street," again Inez ap- 134 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL pealed. " The battle was fought and won a year ago, his little girl is a hostage for his loyalty, let him go ! " The Vice Roy was nettled. He did not like these interruptions in the routine of condemning prisoners, he spoke severely: " The dignity of Spain, of the king, suffers while a single one of those scoundrels remains alive." Inez turned away hopelessly. As she did so, she saw entering the door, the figure of Gomez, who concluding that Maria had tricked him, had come to the council, resolved to accuse her to the Vice Roy, whatever the outcome, still believ- ing that she was Inez. He had seen her in the street with Clayton and was now convinced that the latter was, if not her lover, at least in cor- respondence with her on behalf of the rebels. Valdez saw him as soon as Inez and at the same time he heard the Vice Roy's words, an idea struggled into his mind. " Peste," he screamed, pointing to Gomez, " that one is alive and free." AND THE VICEROY. 135 CHAPTER X. HOW VALDEZ OBTAINED MERCY. MARIA uttered a sudden exclamation as she ob- served that Valdez was accusing Gomez. " Seize him," she cried. " He robbed me, he threatened me, he lied to me this morning ! " The soldiers stood, uncertain what to do, as yet, no order had come from the Vice Roy. " I was with the Arch Rebel," said Gomez, shouldering his way forward until he stood be- side Valdez. " What of it? I am sick and tired of him, I deserted him. Eh, listen, I know where he is, and pah ! what is more important, I know who the spy is who was to tell him your plans. She is here she is a woman ! " Inez reeled for an instant, but Tom Clayton's arm supported her. With an effort, she recovered her senses. As she did so, she caught a glimpse i 3 6 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL of Valdez. There was murder in his expression. He was fumbling in his belt for the knife the guards had taken when he was captured. Inez watched him, fascinated. He was twisting his body from the waist up, to face Romero who stood on his other side, his machete hanging from his belt. " You scoundrel," muttered Tom Clayton of Gomez. It was very still. Gomez caught the words and perceived Tom. " Eh, the Americano," he sneered. " You you bah you can wait, but the spy. Eh, what a jest! you all know her, she " He raised his right arm and pointed at Maria. As he did so, Valdez pulled the machete from Romero's belt and plunged it to the hilt in the body of Gomez right under his outstretched arm. As he did so, he sprang like lightning toward the open lattice. " Catch him ! " " Cut him down ! " " Shoot !" came the cries. The room was in con- fusion. Womon shrieked and fainted. But Romero leaped for Valdez as he started to escape, his heavy hand caught him by the collar. He "Catch him ! Cut him down ! Shoot ! came the cries." AND THE VICEROY. 137 lifted his ugly whip to strike. About Gomez, who had fallen, began to crowd the people. " Stand aside," shouted the Vice Roy, " give the man air can he speak, is he conscious? " " Keep back the people," sharply commanded Francisco. The soldiers began to force them back. As they did so, Valdez was pushed beside Inez. " Quick," she whispered to him, " swear to everything I say, it is your only chance." As she spoke, Gomez, mortally wounded, but conscious, began to mutter brokenly " I am murdered, dying, but who is your daughter's lover? " Many spoke of Inez as the Vice Roy's daughter. " The man raves," said Inez. " Poor, poor fellow ! " " But he may confess/' cried the Vice Roy. " But one may confess and be reprieved," argued Inez. " Pah ! that is of the prisoners," said the Vice Roy. " Valdez has confessed." " Valdez, the assassin ! " 138 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL " He killed that he might save his chance/-' This might readily be so. The Vice Roy knew his people he believed the statement. " And the spy is ? cried the Vice Roy. " Reprieve him, he will tell you later." " He is reprieved, I will examine him later." " One reprieved, one dying," said Maria, angry at Tom Clayton's attitude toward Inez, against whom he should have been her ally, for Tom was thoughtlessly patting Inez with his hand to en- courage her. " What of this Yankee, he " " Listen, come nearer," said Gomez. All turned toward him. " Quick, senor," said Inez to Tom. " He will accuse you, they will accept no defense, escape, hide!" " But you ! " " Bah ! what of me, you wear Maria's ring ; I am done with you, go ! " She pointed to the open and unguarded door to the left. The backs of all were turned to it. They were intent upon watching Gomez. Tom hesitated a moment, then darted through it and was gone. As he did so, Inez ran to the great AND THE VICEROY. 139 doors to the right that the sentinels had deserted to crowd about Gomez. The latter was struggling to speak. Her idea had been to say that Tom was escaping by the door to the right, but found everyone so intent on the words of Gomez that Tom's absence was en- tirely unnoticed. " The Yankee is a traitor, the woman he came to see is the spy, she is, she is, " muttered Gomez. All crowded about him, not thinking of Tom. Again Gomez raised his arm and tried to point. " The spy is " " Blood of the saints, give him air, what says he?" shouted the Vice Roy. Francisco bent over the wounded man, sud- denly crossed himself, rose and addressed the Vice Boy : " He is dead ! " PART III. HOW THE VICEROY ENTERTAINED. CHAPTER I. THUNDER IN THE ANDES. IT was evening. The Residence seemed to chatter like a mountain brook, with the voices of its guests. " Judas " was bound to a stake in the corner of the great interior court or patio, straw piled about him ready, at the proper moment, to be lighted. This great court or open space was surrounded on all four sides by the Residence. About the in- terior of the building ran a gallery, overhung by a roof, supported by graceful Moorish columns, while the gallery itself was supported by fan- tastically carved arches. From one side, a broad flight of steps descended to a landing and thence to the floor of the courtyard. Here and there, the fountains, for which the city was famous, splashed and sparkled. Here 143 144 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL and there, great oleanders gave a fragrance to the summer evening. In one of the galleries were posted the musi- cians. About the patio, or thronging the gal- leries, were the Vice Roy's guests, while the Vice Roy himself stood on the landing of the stairs grimly addressing them. In the midst, sounded a distant reverberation. The Vice Roy paused, an anxious look crossed his features, then he con- tinued. " I announced at the close of this morning's council that not one should leave the Residence, till I had again examined Valdez. He will be examined here later." Some of the guests made wry faces, for many of them had been at the council, and they had been compelled to send in hot haste for maids and lacqueys to fetch their finery to the Residence for the evening's dance, for however disturbed might be political conditions, no one thought of giving up the evening's pleasure, and though they might be accused before the evening was over, they in- sisted, though prisoners, on their dance and the Vice Roy consented, knowing that if he refused, AND THE VICEROY. 145 these people, who thought nothing of his cruelty, would be ready, at the refusal of a fiesta, to rise in revolution. The Vice Roy continued " The dying man said ' there is a spy here, a wo- man/ " he looked from one to another of the lis- tening guests. " I mean to know who she is, I mean to know which of you the escaped Yankee came to see." Again he looked at them threaten- ingly.. Inez, standing behind him, felt herself growing faint. Again the Vice Roy spoke. " Jude Clayton, the American Commissioner, has given his word that he is and has been ignorant of his nephew's doings. I have believed him, still it has been thought best for him, to-morrow, or day after, at the latest, to return to his own country." Some of the officers smiled. They had a shrewd suspicion that the escape of Tom Clayton was welcomed by the Vice Roy as a means of get- ting rid of this prying foreigner from the north, for it was whispered that the Holy Alliance was ready to back Spain against such provinces as had won a precarious independence and that Eng- land and America were investigating conditions to determine whether they should interfere with the plans of the European powers. Again came the distant roar and rumble. " Thunder in the Andes," said Francisco. " Ah, senors, I fear those Andes," said the Vice Roy. " The peons say the mountain sheep are descending to the plains. Why should they? " "Mary's little lambs that seek their mis- tresses," said Inez. " And the watchmen say that at night they see on distant mountain sides, lights that gleam and crawl like glittering snakes. What are they? " Shooting stars," said Inez. " Aye, shooting stars. And these sounds that echo across the Vega? " " Bah ! only thunder," answered Francisco. " The lightning must be magnificent. We can see it from the front of the house. Come ! " In a moment all were trooping after him, up the stairs and through the balconies, careless of the coming examination of Valdez and of the threat of the Vice Roy. Even the musicians left the gallery. Inez lingered a moment. Well she knew that the reverberations came from no sudden and dis- AND THE VICEROY. 147 tant storm. They were the cannon of the last stronghold of the mountains, the only one that could not be avoided the one where, as Clayton had said, cannon had been recently placed mak- ing a defense against the unexpected attack of II Liberator's battalions. If II Liberator should succeed, there was a chance that he might reach the city in time to save her, otherwise she knew her fate could not be much longer delayed, but she trusted that Tom Clayton, at least, was safe and hurrying toward the advancing army. As these things passed rapidly before her mind as she lingered on the stairs, she was startled sud- denly, by seeing Tom Clayton himself, standing at the foot of the flight, beckoning to her. i 4 8 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL CHAPTER II. MARIA BECOMES OBSERVING. " JESU! are you mad? " Inez exclaimed, lightly running toward him. " Then you are not done with me," he whis- pered. " Eh, done with you we are allies at least ; but bah ! still you wear her ring," she caught its flash in a ray of moonlight. " Well, I waited to explain. Francisco threw me that ring this morning, he thought I was a beggar." The girl's face lit up with delight. Here was a lover worth while. " And you waited to tell me you could have got away." " Why, I suppose so." " Eh, Seuor Tommy, Seuor Tommy, I do like you." AND THE VICEROY. 149 " Muchos gracias," whined Tom in his beg- gar's tone. " Saints forgive me, Senor, it is because you mostly are a fool," she continued. " And Mother of God, I must not be one also. Ah, there is death in every corner, you must, you shall go, now, at once ! " She ran to a window, looking into the garden that was beyond the Residence to the north. Among the shrubbery she saw men moving and the glint of the moonlight reflected from gun barrels and accouterments. " Eh, Jesu ! they have posted guards all about us." " Yes," said Tom coolly. " I have been dodg- ing them for some minutes." Not answering, she ran to a door that opened upon the lower hall of entrance. Opening it but a crack, she peered through. A dozen guards sprawled within. The Vice Roy, it was evident, had for the evening made his house a prison. There sounded laughter and voices. Hurrying steps came toward the upper galleries. In a moment the guests would come thronging to the patio. The girl looked all about her. Her eyes caught the figure of " Judas." i5o THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL " Here, quickly," she said. In a moment, Tom had hidden himself in the figure, just in time, for Francisco came running down the stairs. " Eh, we shall soon dance? " he queried. " Si I suppose so," dully answered Inez. " And the first dance, you will give it me? " " Eh, perhaps bah ! it is chilly. Tell Carmen to come, get me my mantilla." Francisco bowed and hurried up the stairs again. As he did so, Inez turned to the " Judas." " Senor, listen. I must speak quickly ! The Vice Roy is suspicious, he will examine Valdez again here this evening. To avert suspicion, I must be Spanish of the Spanish, abuse, vilify, condemn the rebels perhaps even have to accuse you to save you, to save us both. Will Valdez understand? How can I warn him? I may not speak to him, besides he is dull." " Have Carmen warn him." " Carmen, how? " " By a song," said Clayton, his voice coming muffled through the robe of " Judas." " She has done so more than once. "Write the words, any- AND THE VICEROY. 151 thing that will rhyme, she can set them to music these people are all musicians." "But will Valdez understand?" " Warn him first." "How?" " Have her sing a strain of the ( Charcoal Bur- ner's Song/ the gathering song of II Liberator. You heard it in the jungle. Then Valdez will know that he is to expect something." " Si, si," she grasped the idea instantly and began scribbling on a little tablet worn at her girdle. Again Francisco came down the steps, followed by Carmen. " Here, Senorita, is the mantilla." He put it about her shoulders and bent to kiss her hand. Maria's voice, from the gallery, made him de- sist. " Eh, the Vice Roy's ward and her lacquey." She swept scornfully down the stairs. " Maria, Maria," said Inez imploringly. " Why do you treat me so shamefully? We have been friends from childhood." " Eh, friends you steal my betrothed ! " " Ah, believe me, I do not," said Inez. " He 152 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL loves you, I wish you both well. Tell her so, Francisco." "Ah, he need not," said Maria, apparently placated. " I will not speak to him, I could pull his hair. Let us have done with the men, let us be nuns in a convent with becoming white veils." " Alas," said Inez, " I am in danger, such dan- ger. You heard that wretch this morning, you saw him. He said there is a spy here a wo- man. He pointed at you he said the spy was the sweetheart of Senor Clayton. Only you and Francisco know he came to see me. Francisco, I can trust," she looked at him appealingly. He bowed, his hand on his heart and Inez knew she could trust him. " And you, Maria, you will not accuse me? " " Bah ! never; but why trust Francisco? Why trust any of these scoundrels? My lover deceives me, your lover is a poltroon, he runs away ! " But at this Inez lost all her caution. "Bah! what, a poltroon? Senor Tommy? Never! Let me tell you he did not run away, he came back, he " What she might have said in AND THE VICEROY. 153 her anger can be imagined, but Francisco inter- rupted her. " Ah," he said, " Maria despises me ; you have another lover. My heart is broken glass, a broken glass bottle. Your lover, it seems, has deserted you, we are two broken glass bottles, let us com- fort one another." He looked at Inez so languishingly that Maria's jealousy again flamed out. " Oh, infamous," she cried. " You cat, he makes love to you before my eyes. Bah ! and your lover has come back, has he? When? Where is he? I will find out, I will denounce you both ! " She gathered her skirts about her and fairly flew up the stairs. " Follow her, Francisco ! Stop her ! " said Inez and Francisco, at the words, for he perceived the danger Inez was in and was gallantly willing to help her at any risk, followed Maria to the gal- lery, bent on diverting her from her purpose. Maria entered one of the doors leading to the inner corridor. Francisco pursued her. She came into the gallery again at another door and glanced down, a moment, at Inez, then she 154 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL stopped suddenly and hid behind a pillar. Inez was apparently talking to the " Judas." The figure seemed to move. Maria caught her breath. Inez was delivered into her hands, but she paused yes, she would torture her before denouncing her. She saw the way. AND THE VICEROY. 155 CHAPTER III. HOW THEY SEARCHED FOR THE DANCE ORDER OF THE VICE ROY'S WARD. MEANWHILE, Tom, all unconscious of the watching fury in the gallery, was anxiously speaking to Inez. He had lost the list of adher- ents he had secured in the morning. " I had it a moment ago," he said. " I must have lost it in the patio. If found, hundreds of lives will be in danger. Look for it." Inez, first going to Carmen, who had all this time idly been thrumming her guitar and ex- plaining to her her plan, began to search about the patio. And she did so, the musicians came into the gallery. They began to play and the guests crowded through the doors. Half a dozen young officers ran toward Inez, Romero sulkily followed them. " My dance," said one. 156 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL " You promised me," said Francisco. " Bah ! they dispute. Give me the dance," said another. An idea came to Inez. She might turn their eagerness to account. The lost list was about the size and shape of her order of dances that she had carefully made out earlier in the evening. " Eh, dullness of a heretic ! " she exclaimed. " I have lost my dance order. Look for it, I will give the first dance to, whoever finds it." The young officers commenced to search furi- ously. The senoritas and Judas Clayton looked from the gallery, laughing and applauding. " Eh, they grovel, there on their hands and knees." " Si, the monkeys ! " " Eh, let us bet on who finds it." So they laughed and wagered while the search continued and Inez desperately tried to keep them away from " Judas," directing them elsewhere while she herself searched in the straw. " I have it," said Romero. He held up the list grinning, a groan of disgust came from the of- ficers. AND THE VICEROY. 157 " I will give you fifty pesatas for it," said Fran- cisco. Maria scowled. " A hundred," said an officer. " Two hundred," said Francisco. "A thousand," said Judge Clayton, from the gallery. " I will have my dance," said Komero. He advanced toward Inez, as ugly and brutal a figure as could be imagined. The girl shuddered, then she looked up at the Judge. " Eh, Jesu ! think of something, help me," she said. The Judge was quick-witted. " Oh, I am ill faint. Help me, Senorita Inez, get my medicines ! " He pretended to stagger. " Oh, my guest is ill ! Pardon me, seuors," said Inez and ran up the steps. The Judge met her with a bow. As she reached the gallery she laughed. Romero heard her. At the same mo- ment, Maria, who meanwhile had come down the stairs, snatched the list from him and looked at it. He turned and angrily recovered it. " Bah," he said. " You fine ladies one of you 158 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL cheats me, the other robs me, but some day " He glared about him. The Judge came down the stairs. " I think," he said, " Senorita Inez would like that paper." He took it from Komero and mounted the stairs. The guests laughed at the negro's discomfiture. The music was playing all sorts of invitations to dance and the young people were beginning to take partners, but Maria interrupted them. " Come," she cried, seizing a great wax taper that burnt in a sconce at the foot of the stairs and approaching " Judas." " Let us burn him." Maria was beginning her torture and Inez saw that she had guessed the secret. But she meant not to give up while a chance remained. " Pah ! no," she said. " Judas has points. He was a bachelor, wait till the dancing is over." The others applauded and Maria put back the candle in the sconce. The young people began to dance. In the midst came a rattle of d"urns "A hundred, said an officer." AND THE VICEROY. 159 and tramping feet. The entrance doors to the Patio opened and Valdez was brought in, sur- rounded by guards. 160 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL CHAPTER IV. HOW A SONG WAS SUNG FOR A PRISONER'S SUPPER. As Valdez was brought in, the dance ceased abruptly. The Vice Roy, with his councillors, grimly came down the stairs. A table wad brought forward, the examination was about to begin. Not a woman there but shuddered at the possibility of the prisoner's recklessly accusing her of being the spy in order to curry favor or from revenge. For thus it went in the Vice Royalties. Now a dance, then an execution. One moment honored of the government, the next under accusation. Not very long before, the guests at a fiesta like this, had suddenly been divided into two parties and one party shot down without warning, by a platoon of soldiers, commanded by one, that but AND THE VICEROY. 161 a moment before, had been dancing with the wo- men and drinking with the men.* Of all those looking on, Inez appeared the most at ease. As though nothing were at stake, she languidly moved her great fan back and forth as she chattered for a moment with Carmen, then standing on the landing of the stairs, a brilliant figure of crimson, she spoke to the officers below her. " Eh, senors, has your prisoner had his supper? Pah ! the villain ; he should be burnt alive and be strong, so that it will hurt ! " Valdez looked at her wonderingly. Romero surlily answered her " Bah, he had no money ! " " Eh, they buy their own food? " Si ! " " But he looks hungry," said Inez. " Why does not his singing brat earn money for him then?" growled Romero. It was what she hoped he would say. " Eh, seGors and senoritas, Donnas, Dons, Doc- * This was done by Gen. Boves, a negro soldier, in New Grenada. 162 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL tors, Caballeros " She dropped a courtesy, as she quoted the address of the crier announcing the play in the theater. " Let the child sing for her father's supper, to fatten him for execution. 'Tis a blessed charity ! " Even the grim Vice Roy smiled and nodded. He liked the brutal suggestion of the ox fattened for the butcher. Little Carmen, like a flame-colored bird, seemed to skim down the stairs. She reached the Patio and began to sing : " The night is dark, the air is chill, Come, charcoal-burner, tend your fire " Valdez started, a growl -of anger came from the officers. " Silence," roared the Vice Roy. " The Char- coal Burners' song here? it is lucky I don't shoot you ! " " Forgive her ! She is but a child, she knows no better," said Inez. " Come, little one, sing the ballad of the forsaken princess." " Eh, what is that? I must knpw," said the Vice Roy. AND THE VICEROY. 163 " The princess ' lover is coming to see her, but for his safety, the princess must deny him." " Eh, that sounds innocent enough," said the Vice Koy. So Carmen began to sing, fitting the words to the music of the dance that had been interrupted. 41 The princess longs for the Lord of Hearts, She may not tell his name. Though the Lord of Hearts be near at hand, She may not speak his fame, Ah me, she may not speak his fame. The Lord of Hearts, he comes, he comes, But him she must deny. His friends of old she must forget, His friendship must deny, deny, Ah me, she must deny." Brava ! Brava ! " The coins rattled about the singer, the applause sounded from every side. " Eh, is there no more? " said the Vice Roy himself. " Eh, yes, but that rebel there has his supper. Pah ! why delay his trial? " Inez spoke as though grudging the prisoner a moment. " Eh, she is loyal enough," said the Vice Roy 164 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL approvingly. " But let us have another verse." Again Carmen sang : " The Lord of Hearts approaches fast, She says that he doth roam, That he is far in a foreign land, That safe he may come home, Ah me, that safe he may come home." Again came the jingling coins and the ap- plause. A look of comprehension stole into the face of Valdez. " Now, my man," said the Vice Roy abruptly. " When did you last see II Liberator? " " A year ago ! " Inez scowled. She feared he would be led on, step by step. The next moment she smiled co- quettishly at Francisco. " Senor Vice Roy," said Maria, from the bal- cony. She was ready now to denounce Inez. " Be still," said the Vice Roy, so sternly that Maria subsided. "What were his plans?" he continued, ad- dressing Valdez. " His plans, " said Valdez stupidly, a little at a loss. AND THE VICEROY. 165 " Blood of the saints, what did he say? " " Carramba, that he was going to Hayti ! " " By way of the Andes? " said the Vice Koy. Inez shook her head. " The Andes no, they are not on the way to Hayti," replied Valdez. Maria saw the signal made by Inez. "High Mightiness! High Mightiness!" she screamed. " Corpse of infamy, can you not be still?" he said in wrath. " If again you interrupt, you shall be removed ! " Again Maria subsided, again the Vice Roy turned to Valdez. " And now about the spy " he began. " Eh, noodle of an idiot, flames of purgatory I will be still no longer. Spy! Spy! Look to your own household look to your ward ! " screamed Maria. This time the Vice Roy started to his feet in anger. " Are you insane? " he said. "Insane? No!" she cried. "I am the only sane one here pah ! let me speak, I must speak ! " " Eh, the wind, the stream .and the woman's 166 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL tongue, none may stop them! Speak and have done ! " said the Vice Roy. " Well, High Mightiness, did you notice the words of Carmen's song, how they tallied with the prisoner's answer? Did you notice, I say, did you notice? " " Pah ! upon my soul they did," said the Vice Roy startled. " Eh ! " interrupted Inez desperately, hoping to stop the stream of accusation that was coming like a flood. " You yourself asked her to sing." " Eh, but the words," said Maria. She had come down the stairs and stood just below Inez. The others watched from the gallery like the audience in the theater. Some of them uncon- sciously threw themselves in effective poses. They were delighted, here was a moment worth while. Some of the senoritas racked their brains to see if they could not think of something so as to become one of the actors. But Maria had not paused, she was speaking all the time " Eh, pah ! the princess of the song is the prov- ince or is Inez herself. The Lord of Hearts is AND THE VICEROY. 167 ' II Liberator ' " She paused, delighted at the sensation caused by the words. " For his fame she must say he roams afar eh? you imbeciles, did not Valdez look at her, did she not gesture, did he not say, ' II Liberator was in Hayti '? " " Boom ! " came a loud reverberation that shook the building. " You Judas," hissed Inez. " Aye, Judas," screamed Maria. " Eh, si, Ju- das! I had almost forgotten. Let us burn Ju- das ! Let the ' Judases ' confront each other ! " Again she seized the flaming wax torch and ad- vanced toward the figure, intent on lighting the straw. " Eh, you shall not, shall not," said Inez, plac- ing herself between them. " Eh, Mother of Mercy ! " she said to the Vice Roy. " Listen to me, I have something also, eh, I may speak ! " " Blood of the saints, why don't you speak? " thundered the Vice Roy. Maria made an at- tempt to pass Inez and light the straw. Inez desperately kept her back. " Madre a dios ! " she exclaimed. " Pah shall she accuse me Listen ! Listen, all of you ! I 168 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL will accuse! For I have had loyal eyes while you were blind bah you shall not burn him," she addressed Maria. Exasperated, the Vice Roy grew purple with impatience. " Burn what? " he shouted. " Eh, God in heaven, is there no other way? " said Inez. Then turning to the Vice Roy, speak- ing coldly and clearly, she said : " Burn what burn Judas for I have found out what none of you know in Judas is con- cealed the Yankee spy, Senor Clayton ! I de- spise him as a traitor, I loathe him, I accuse him, but I would not have him burnt ! " A roar of ejaculations volleyed from all about the courtyard. A dozen officers leaped forward and in a moment, Tom Clayton was pulled from his place of concealment and stood before them, not quite understanding what it all meant, won- dering at the accusation of Inez, but still cool enough to suspend judgment. As he was dragged into the view of those in the courtyard, such was their surprise, that for once, not a single exclamation or weird ejaculation rose to their Spanish lips. The point of wonder had r AND THE VICEROY. 169 been reached and passed, only Judge Clayton was equal to the occasion. "Well, Ahm jiggered," he said. Meanwhile Valdez had been almost forgotten. He stood stupefied, trying to fathom this be- trayal, as he thought it. " Bah ! you traitress," he suddenly exclaimed, pointing to Inez. " Silence, you scoundrel," said the Vice Hoy, convinced by the action of Inez that Maria's ac- cusations amounted to nothing. " Senorita Inez has done her duty." " Eh, and I thought her one of us," growled Valdez. " She was to get us the list. He said she was one of us and she has betrayed him ! " "Oh Padre! Padre! " .wailed Carmen, only thinking that her father was falsely accusing their best friend. " She betrayed him to save him. He would have been burnt alive ! " " Eh what? " A look of enlightenment flashed across his features. The Vice Roy also started " Carramba and this list that is spoken of what is it? " said he. i;o THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL " That list ! There, in her hand ! " snapped Maria, pointing to Inez, who still carelessly held the list picked up in the courtyard, in her hand. Inez started. Without this tell-tale bit of real evidence she could still see a glimmer of hope. Her word was as good as Maria's. But there was no time to deliberate. The Vice Roy was im- patiently holding out his hand. " Come, that paper, give it to me ! " he was saying. Just between her and the Vice Roy, the wax torch at the right hand foot of the stairs guttered and flamed. As if by accident, she hur- riedly passed the paper toward the Vice Roy through the flames. The list was made of oiled paper. With a crackle and snap, it was in an instant aflame a moment more and there was nothing left of it but a pinch of ashes. " Oh, Mother of God ! " wailed Inez, as though overwhelmed with grief. " My zeal to obey you has ruined me. That which should have con- founded my accusers is destroyed and eh, unlucky one, has destroyed me ! " Maria stamped her foot with vexation. "Eh, don't listen to her," she cried. "She AND THE VICEROY. 171 burnt it on purpose. Pah ! don't I know it? did I not buy it from Gomez? Did he not say that she to see whom the Yankee came was the spy bah ! arrest her ! " At these words, Inez faced her like the wrath of fate. " Eh arrest whom? What? You accuse me, the Vice Roy's ward. Out of her own mouth she has accused herself! Bah, did I buy a list from Gomez? Did I walk with the Yankee this morn- ing in the street. At whom did the dead man point this morning? Eh arrest! You want the spy there is the spy, Maria Mercedes Men- doza ! " " Arrest them both ! " said the Vice Boy. PART IY. HOW THEY CONDUCTED A TRIAL. CHAPTER I. THE NIGHT BEFORE. IT was two o'clock in the morning and about the long table of the council room, sat again the Vice Roy and his staff. The officers, in spite of the exciting scenes that they had witnessed and the absorbing nature of their deliberations were so sleepy from their two nights of wakefulness that they could with difficulty attend to the business before them, but the Vice Roy, his face gray and grim, looked as keenly vigilant as usual. Like an ancient hawk, the grandfather of all the hawks, with keen and piercing eyes, he watched his officers or now and then, walked to the lattice and gazed in the darkness toward where lay be- yond the Vega, the sullen Andes, or listened to the cries or gusts of singing that, now and then, came to him from the streets of the city. 175 176 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL With the departure of the guests from the Patio and the hurrying of Clayton, Inez, Maria and Valdez to prison, the news of the arrests had flown through the city and a dangerous and tur- bulent spirit was abroad. Among the lower orders, there was a feeling of unrest, and instead of going to their homes after the burning in effigy of their figure of " Ju- das," they gathered here and there, in groups of fiercely talking men, who separated as the patrol approached them and came together again as the tramp of the soldiers passed from their vicinity. A rumor spread from lip to lip, no one knew whence or whither that " II Liberator " was once more at hand and that the arrests at the " Patio " were connected with his coming and these rumors were brought, every few minutes, to the Vice Roy and his council, but were so vague, indefinite and uncertain that the council could make nothing of them. Through the streets tramped the patrols, or- dering the lights extinguished in the houses, dis- persing the knots of people and arresting all AND THE VICEROY. 177 found singing the song of the " Charcoal Burner " that every now and then, came in gusts and snatches, now rising loud and shrill, now mutter- ing low and menacing from this quarter and that, as though the city were a vast JEolian harp, an- swering the rising wind of Revolution. " The air is dark, the night is chill" Came the music, " Come, charcoal-burner, tend yon fire, The fire that flames from mount and hill, Come, charcoal-burner, tend the fire." Was it imagination or did the Vice Roy see, far away toward the mountains, twinkling lights? " The flame that melts from swords the rust, That turns the tyrant's throne to dust, That beckons, come I You must, you must ! Come charcoal-burner, tend the fire ! " " What is this song? " said Judge Clayton, who had demanded a hearing at the council. " What does it mean?" " Senor," said one of the officers, " it is a song of the people. He that is called { II Liber- ator ' after one of his defeats, burnt charcoal for a living in one of the southern provinces. His i;8 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL followers were called, in derision, ' Charcoal Burners.' II Liberator adopted the name and the song sprang into being. The flame is supposed to be this chimera of liberty, their flag is yellow and seven stars are emblazoned upon it. When the song is heard, we usually expect trouble." " And who is this rebel leader," said the Judge. " Eh, no one knows certainly," said the of- ficer." " But doubtless, a low fellow, he was rich once though; some say he was the natural son of a great Spanish noble. He is probably a cowardly demagogue, making what he can of his sporadic risings." " He is a gentleman born," came the sharp voice of the Vice Hoy. " Of a blood that never produced cowards." The officers looked at each other in surprise, but the Vice Roy vouchsafed nothing further in explanation of his words but called the council to order. " Senors," he announced. " Judge Clayton, the American Commissioner, has no diplomatic functions, or representative character, but has de- manded for his nephew a trial. I think, under AND THE VICEROY. 179 the treaty, he is entitled to one. At any rate, I have determined that he shall have one, a court- martial." The Vice Roy bowed to Judge Clayton. " Senor," he continued, " I would not deprive you further of your needed repose." Judge Clayton understood the words to mean a dismissal and withdrew. As he left the room, the Vice Roy turned again to his officers. " Senors, I am still in a quandary, in great per- plexity as to which one of the young women, ar- rested this evening, we should direct our atten- tion. The accusation of Senorita Maria is speci- fic, apparently sincere. She is the daughter of an ancient Spanish house. Her father was an Hi- dalgo, one of the King's household. Just before his death, Spain was in the throes of her struggle with France, the Indies seemed a safer asylum than the mother country. She was sent here, reared partly in one of our most loyal houses, partly in the convent to which I assigned my ward, became the betrothed of our aide-de-camp. Francisco. She has no interest or liking for the people here, but she is young, beautiful, coquet- i8o THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL tish I know not with whom she has met or with whom she may have had a flirtation. Could not the Yankee have come to see her? and yet at the council yesterday, when Gomez was stabbed, she was the first to accuse the Yankee. " On the other hand, my ward has been guarded from the day she was entrusted to me till now, like a state prisoner, a hostage. Her chains have been silken, she has not known they were there, but every moment of her time has been accounted for, she has been brought up in my own house- hold and in the convent of St. Catherine. Never, to my knowledge, has she ever been abroad unless accompanied by persons who have reported to me her every word or look or gesture. In her cham- ber has slept every night since she was a child, her duenna eh you look wonderingly at me. Seuors, I have had my reasons, there are those who had an interest in her, against whom I have guarded her ; those who would not have hesitated to have abducted her, and Senors, not only has her personal safety been thus guarded, but her mind has been fortified in loyalty, by education, by precept and example, and this also with a pur- AND THE VICEROY. 181 pose and yet, and yet, Senors, before she went to the convent, she used to beg for gentler measures, and, this last year, has seemed to express sym- pathy for the Rebels, but yesterday you heard her interjections at the questioning of the condemned. But how could she have seen or known or met this Yankee? Is it reasonable to suppose he came to see her? Besides, did she not last night accuse him eh but Valdez said strange things eh, Senors, I do not know. " Again, this Gomez who was murdered who really was he? Whence came he? And this mysterious Tom Clayton from the Andes! The nephew of the American Commissioner. I would shoot him out of hand, but Senors, let me con- fess it, I dare not, without justification. Senor Judge Clayton is here to make a report to his government. There are rumors that President Monroe is to issue an important message; the character of that message may be determined by the report of Judge Clayton. Senor Clayton must have a trial, he must be shown to be guilty and how can this be done unless the woman who 182 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL is the spy, is found, that he came to see ! And who is she? Suspicion points at two, but which? " And behind all this, Senors, what of the Arch Traitor? What is he doing? Is he in Hayti and what has so stirred the people? There are mysteries all about us ! I believe the solution of some of these mysteries is in the minds of some or all of the persons arrested this evening, there- fore I have determined to also try one of these women; from the trial we shall learn many things. I wish that you, SeSor," he indicated an officer, " would visit Senorita Maria and dis- cover, if possible, what she really knows. If she seem sincere, loyal, we will accept her as a gov- ernment witness. For myself, I will visit my ward. I wish you to meet us here at sunrise, when we will plan how this ' trial ' is to be con- ducted, till then, adios ! " It was almost dawn when Inez perceived stand- ing in the corridor outside her door through which the guard entered, a figure, about which was wrapped a great cloak of a texture finer AND THE VICEROY. 183 than those of the prison attendants. It was the Vice Koj himself, and in a moment, he had dis- missed the guards and was addressing her. His face, for the moment, had lost its usual grim expression, his manner its usual harshness, and Inez, with a feeling of pity, perceived that he seemed old and even feeble. " High Mightiness," she said, courtesying. " A poor place to welcome you, but it is all you have seen fit to allow me." "It only rests with yourself, Inez, how long you occupy it." " You mean " " Ah, Inez, you are not guilty bah ! from the moment you first were entrusted to my keep- ing, you have been watched, guarded, protected against the poison of the Revolution. She whom the Yankee came to see is the spy when could you have met the Yankee before? " Swift as lightning, Inez reviewed her life it was true. Ever at her side had been Donna Isa- bella, the Major Domo, a trusted officer. Only within the Residence itself, or at the convent 184 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL where she had been educated, had she ever had even a moment to herself. Only four times when out of doors, had she been without this constant attendance. Once and twice and thrice, in the remote village when waiting for the Vice Roy, when, during Isabella's siesta, she had stolen away to see Clayton when he was a prisoner ; the other time when she had been in II Liberator's camp. Neither of these adventures were within the knowledge of the Vice Koy, for the first, no one knew except a guard, now a thousand miles away, the second was as well unknown, for she had reached the village long before Francisco, Maria and Donna Isabella, and none of them had suspected that she had been concealed in the hut, while they were prisoners in the camp. " You give me strange attendants now," she said. " Eh I could do no otherwise. But last week, on a less specific accusation than Maria's, your friend Clara, daughter of the commandant him- self, was imprisoned and shot. I cannot treat my own less tenderly." This was true, Seuorita Clara, absolutely inno- AND THE VICEROY. 185 cent, as Inez knew, had been shot at sunrise on the accusation of a servant that her library con- tained books under the ban. One phrase caught the girl's attention. " Your own," she queried. " Our relation is that merely of guardian and ward ! " " Inez, your blood and mine are the same ! " " You you are not my father? " *$Q i iphe ^in jjp g came together with a snap. " But who is my father, I want to know, why have you brought me up, treated me like a captive princess, like a hostage? " " You have been a hostage ! " " Eh, Jesu ! but our blood, you say, is the same, what is our relationship eh, Jesu! I am in the shadow of death, I would know who I am." " A brand saved from the burning." " My father, I have heard was " she was about to say " patriot," but changed the term, she must measure every word, " a rebel." A wrinkle of pain twitched across the stern Roman face of the Vice Roy. " Who told you? " he demanded. i86 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL The words of II Liberator came back to her. " A poor soldier hiding in the grass," she said. " Did he tell you more? " " No, High Mightiness, no ; but you will ah, who was my father? " " A criminal," said the Vice Boy. " I have forgotten his name. It was not that by which we have called you; but enough, it was of other things I came to talk." Then he offered her pardon if she would ex- plain the things that were such a mystery. Her whole knowledge of Clayton, the meaning of Maria's story of the list, the song, for the Vice Roy was sorely perplexed. So much told against her and yet she herself had accused Clayton. Were it not for Maria, he would willingly have thought her innocent. Even now he was inclined to believe her accusation of Maria, but she must frankly tell him everything. Inez obdurately re- fused to say a word. She had determined on her course of action and proudly told him that she would rely on his long care of her to protect her, he himself had declared it to be impossible for her to have had communication with an enemy. AND THE VICEROY. 187 Finally the Vice Roy left her and returned to the Residence, there to meet with an officer who had been dispatched to talk with Maria, and this officer reported that Maria would gladly aid the government and then set forth in such detail, her statements, that the Vice Roy, sadly shaking his head, signed an order for the release of Maria and for the immediate trial of Inez and Clayton. " Eh, Jesu ! it is in the blood," he said, as he signed the papers. " Pardon, excellency/' said an officer. " Eh, nothing ! Let us plan for this trial," and the council began to consult in regard to the forthcoming trials. It was nearly dawn far away in the foothills of the Andes, the startled mountain sheep came bounding downward, for an army of phantoms, it seemed, gaunt, thin men, in ragged uniforms, swarmed through the narrow paths. " There is the city," said Du Plessis. He pointed to where the cross of the cathedral in the City of the Hills, flashed in the sunlight. " Why not, at once, advance? " i88 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL " Wait for the signal," said II Liberator. " Clayton has not returned. I do not know whether the people, without whom we are power- less, will rise ! " AND THE VICEROY. i8g CHAPTER II. JUDGE CLAYTON CONSULTS WITH FRANCISCO. JUDGE CLAYTON, in his own country, had been a famous criminal lawyer. " Ah wonderful man, suh. Ah discombobilating man, suh ! Mali grandfather knew him ! " old men will tell you even to-day, down in the blue grass region. Indeed, the case of State of Kentucky vs. Ring- wold and of United States vs. Grierson, in which he appeared for the defense are still quoted as classics, while he was eagerly sought as an as- sociate or feared as an opponent, not only by the brilliant bar of his own state, but by such giants of the profession as Mason of New Hampshire, Crook and Routledge of Virginia, and Webster and Choate of Massachusetts. In his younger days, he had successfully met the brilliant attack THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL of Alexander Hamilton and had also worsted the subtle and wily Aaron Burr of New York. As soon, therefore, as he had gained the prom- ise of a trial for Tom, he went to his room, had a steaming pot of black coffee made ready, lit a cigar, took off his coat and tipping himself back in his chair, with his feet elevated upon the table in front of him, began to think out a defense. First, however, he summoned a servant and told him to ask Lieutenant Francisco to attend him at his room as soon as he conveniently could. "Also, put out some whisky and cigars," he added. For an hour, he made notes on the cuffs of his fine linen shirt with a pencil stub, drank black coffee and smoked. At the end of that time, the servant announced that Lieutenant Francisco was in attendance. " Ahem ! " said the Judge. He took down his heels from the table, rose from his chair, reas- sumed his coat, frowned deeply, made a graceful gesture with his hand and said, " Tell him I am engaged for a few moments with the Chief Jus- tice!" AND THE VICEROY. 191 " Senor ! " said the astonished servant. " Oh, I forgot myself," said the Judge. " Show him up." A few moments later, Francisco entered. The Judge greeted him with such grave and stately courtesy that Francisco's estimation of himself, rose if possible, a hundred per cent. He drank with some spluttering, for the Spaniards are, as a rule, abstemious, the glass of whisky that the Judge offered him and began a long sentence full of compliments. The Judge listened courteously and at its conclusion, came strictly to business. " Seiior," he said, " in my own country, I al- ways begin a criminal trial by calling on the Dis- trict Attorney and asking for a continuance. You are under military law here, I understand, but you are Judge Advocate, I would ask you for a continuance. I am unprepared and wish time to engage counsel." " Impossible," said Francisco. " The interests of the public demand an immediate, rigorous and severe prosecution. Ah, I would advise a plea of guilty and an appeal to the clemency of the court. 192 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL If you do so, I can make no promises, but will not oppose what you say." He spoke glibly, as though reciting a formula. " Thank you," said the Judge. " But why ' thanks/ " said Francisco. " You make me feel at home by your remarks," said the Judge. "And lead me to believe that your procedure is somewhat like our own." " Senor," said Francisco. " This is the first trial held for ten years. Eh, Senor, the Council has appealed to me, as Judge Advocate, to draw up the form of procedure. Alas! I never thought there would be held a trial and all the memory that remains to me of my early studies is dim. At a courtmartial, however, the ques- tions and answers are in writing, and thus, and thus " he continued, explaining the matter fully. " By all means," said the Judge. " But about these questions and answers being in writing, may that not be waived? " "Oh, assuredly," said Francisco. "Particu- larly if I tell the Council that by so doing we shall be more likely to catch the prisoners trip- ping." AND THE VICEROY. 193 " You are not particular, yourself, about a conviction?" " No by the love of God," said Francisco. " I am not those two beautiful girls shot exe- crable ! " " I think perhaps we may come to an under- standing," said the Judge. Then he began to talk, clearly, logically, in- cisively, to Francisco. The latter listened eagerly, nodding his head from time to time energetically. " Wonderful," he said when the Judge had con- cluded. " Marvelous ! " " Now," said the Judge. " Give me the names of the leading advocates here. I as stranger would not presume to personally undertake the matter." " There are none, Senor all dead or banished twelve years ago eh you look astonished pah ! what would you? They defended the accused so vigorously that it became tiresome for the govern- ment, they had determined to convict anyway the advocates were a waste of time so, Senor, those that were not shot were banished." 194 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL Francisco spoke as though the Judge must of course see the sweet reasonableness of it all. " I I don't believe I ever shall be able to learn your procedure," gasped the Judge. " On the contrary, you understand it per- fectly," said Francisco. "Adios, it is late or rather, early, I must go ! " He bowed himself out. When he reached the street, he stopped for a moment as though of a mind to return. " Ass that I am," he muttered. " I neglected to tell of that form of procedure pertaining to Donna Espana but bah doubtless in his own country, they do the same." He shrugged his shoulders and continued on his way. AND THE VICEROY. 195 CHAPTER III. " COMB IN TO COURT." THE trial was to take place in the hall of the prison, once the convent of the Capucins. This vast building, upon which millions of pesatas and countless hours of unpaid labor were expended, early in the seventeenth century, stands to-day as grim, as massive and as forbidding, as when first erected. It is built of great blocks of gray- ish stone that were quarried in the mountains and dragged by the hands of Indians to the city. Each stone, it is said, cost at least one life and the tradition is that it has so long escaped the ravages of earthquakes, tempests and revolutions, because the cement that fastens it together, was mixed with the blood of those whose labor built it. 196 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL In 1819 it was used as a prison and in its great hall, such trials as were held, were conducted. This vast room was on the second story of the building and was only enclosed on three sides. The fourth was formed of open arches through which could be seen the Vega, rolling away in billows to meet the Andes, that lofty, snow-cov- ered and glittering, were the last sight upon which rested the eyes of the prisoners condemned to death. Through the right end of the room, as one looked toward the mountains and forming part of its wall, rose a round tower, thrusting its way upward from the foundation to the roof, contain- ing a spiral stairway to which entrance was gained from the hall by a rusty iron door. On the opposite side, an open stairway of stone led to an upper gallery and from this gallery opened doors that led to the apartments in which dwelt the officers of the prison and also to a great din- ing hall, built about four sides of a courtyard, in which the Vice Roy entertained his officers and his guests during a recess of the hearings or frequently sat with them at dinner while the AND THE VICEROY. 197 condemned were being shot, the different courses being announced by the volleys of the firing squad. These entertainments, however, occurred only when prisoners of importance were being exam- ined, tried or executed, the lesser criminals being disposed of as we have seen, at the council room of the Residence, as part of the daily routine. On the fourth side of the hall was an elevated platform, over which was a red and gold canopy, and upon which was placed the Vice Roy's chair of state. About and behind it were curtains and behind the curtains and concealed by them, a niche in the wall, from which ran an under- ground passage to the Residence a mile or more away. Below this were the chairs of the three officers w r ho acted as judges; in front of them, a long table, in front of this again, was another chair and a smaller table for the clerk. The city, after its night of unrest, was still. The day was fair. No messenger had come to explain the sounds in the Andes and the Vice Roy had concluded that they really were caused by thunder. The real explanation was that no i 9 8 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL one had escaped from the mountain fortress to tell the story. The trial began at nine o'clock in the morning of the fifteenth of August, 1821, and as the herald announced the opening of the court, he bowed first to the Vice Roy and the Judges, seated in their respective places, then turned to those that had gathered to witness the trial of Inez, ward of the Vice Roy of the King and Thomas Clayton, (Clayton, they call him) nephew of the Com- missioner of the United States of America. " Viva il Rey ! " shouted the crier. " The Court is open ! " Pausing a moment and turning toward the iron door at the base of the tower, he con- tinued : " Come in to Court, Senorita Inez y Per- dita Diaz, and answer to the accusation of the King of Spain." Again he paused. The flutter- ing fans of the ladies among the spectators were for a moment still ; the audience looked intently at the iron door. They expected to see enter, a crushed, humbled, tearful culprit. Instead, a radiant, magnificent creature swept into the hall, her head high, her cheeks flushed, her eyes shin- ing, dressed, not as was expected, in some rough AND THE VICEROY. 199 and disfiguring garment, but clad in gleaming white, with jewels flashing and great ropes of pearls wound round her waist and hanging pend- ent from it. Judge Clayton had dispatched to Inez her maid, early in the morning, after consul- tation with Donna Isabella, with a big basket, and had obtained permission for her to receive it. The result was before them. For a moment, they gasped in astonishment; then a murmur of admiration and approval swept about the room, the great fans fluttered, the dresses of the women billowed and rustled, the swords of the officers clanked and jingled, as in- stinctively they rose, courtesied and bowed as they had been accustomed, to Inez, w r ard of the Vice Roy and still the first lady of the province. " Muchos gracias," she said, courtesying in re- turn. " Eh ! Senors, you are not gallant, I would sit!" A dozen officers sprang forward to give her a chair. She courtesied to the nearest and seated herself. " Eh ! Excellent ! " said Donna Isabella. " See the results of good training. We have been 200 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL mistaken, what we are to see is the trial of the Vice Boy, not of the ward." " Eh ! Magnificent ! " said Francisco to Judge Clayton. " She also understands the proper pro- cedure at a Spanish trial." " Bah ! " said an officer, " If only Clayton is condemned, Eh! we will raise a riot to rescue her!" " Jesu how brazen ! " said Maria, who was of the witnesses. " Senor Clayuton," announced the Herald. " Come into court and answer to the accusation of the King of Spain." Again there was a craning of necks, again the quiet and then the slow sweep of the fans, again the iron door opened and Tom Clayton entered. " Buenos Dies," he said, his Spanish perfect. " Senoritas, I kiss your feet ! " " Eh, eh ! " grunted a guard, " Salute the Vice Roy!" " High Mightiness," said Tom, " I am here." His salutation of the ladies first, again caught the fancy of even the most punctilious of the AND THE VICEROY. 201 audience, his quiet dignity in addressing the Vice Roy still further won them. " Eh, Jesu," said one senorita, " such a pity he should be shot for coming to see Inez. Eh if he had but come to see me ! " " Ah ! He is looking at me, suppose Inez should be condemned and he acquitted ! " said another. Gradually the audience settled itself to listen. The faces of the three officers assumed the proper solemnity of expression. The clerk had finished sharpening his quill pen, the officious court offi- cers had ceased crying " Silence ! " " Is it the wish of your High Mightiness that we proceed?" said the President of the Judges, Colonel Robeldo, to the Vice Koy. " Proceed," said the latter, who took no part in the trial, other than as a spectator, except that the findings of the court were to be imme- diately submitted to him for approval. " The Judge Advocate will proceed," said Ro- beldo to Francisco. Then occurred the second event of the trial to delightfully excite the spectators. Francisco, in 202 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL full uniform, a flower in his buttonhole, carrying his military cloak and plumed hat, gloved, cor- rect, walked forward and addressed the court. " Senors, I resign ! " "Carramba," said the Vice Roy, startled out of his dignified attitude of aloofness. " 'Tis un- heard of, no Judge Advocate ever resigns." " Nevertheless," said Francisco. " I resign bah ! What would you, one of the witnesses is my late betrothed. I am convinced she will commit perjury, my honor as a gentleman would not per- mit me to bring the matter to the honorable court's attention." " Bones of an idiot ! What now are you do- ing? " said the exasperated Vice Roy. "A moment a moment permit me, High Mightiness," continued Francisco. He waved his hand gracefully and went on. " Of one of the accused, I cherish hopes. Should she by my efforts be condemned, be shot eh, Jesu ! think should she be my wife, she would then throw it in my face forever afterward. Bah I resign ! " Only Judge Clayton apparently perceived the AND THE VICEROY. 203 unconscious bull. His face turned purple as he tried to preserve his dignity. " It is necessary another be appointed," said Robeldo to the Vice Roy. Captain Romero came forward eagerly. " I demand the appointment," he said. " I am the next on the army list for a staff appoint- ment." The officers in the room looked somewhat dis- gusted. For Romero to be a line officer, to con- duct massacres, was one thing; for him to asso- ciate with them as a member of the staff, a social equal, was quite another. " You may act," said the Vice Roy curtly. " Er er " stuttered Romero, somewhat at a loss as to what was expected of him. " Ask that the indictment be read," whispered the clerk. " On behalf of the prisoner, Clayton, I waive the reading," said Judge Clayton. " Senorita Inez? " queried the clerk. Judge Clayton nodded to her. " I also waive the reading," answered Inez. A sigh of relief came from the spectators. 204 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL Clayton and Inez again had won their favor. To listen to the interminable verbiage of the docu- ment would be such a nuisance. " I think I ought to say here," said Judge Clay- ton, " that I shall demand, on the part of Seuor Clayton, a separate trial the indictment charges them both in brief, I understand, with High Treason. The defenses are different, my nephew, as an American, owes no allegiance to King Ferdinand ! " " The devil, that is so ! " said the clerk. " Pah ! said the Vice Roy. " I confess that the point altogether escaped me." " Eh ! " said Romero. " The evidence is the same against them both. Why delay matters? " " The request is granted," said Robeldo. " Then," said Romero. " I will try first, Senorita Inez." " Ask her if she will plead," said Robeldo. " Senorita Inez," said the clerk, in a sing-song voice. " Are you guilty or not guilty of the charges in the indictment contained, the reading whereof you have waived? " AND THE VICEROY. 205 Inez, who had risen as the clerk addressed her, courtesied. " Senors," she said, " you have accused me, you yourselves shall determine concerning me. I re- fuse to answer you." " Write," said Robeldo, " that Sefiorita Inez refuses to plead." " Ah ! " breathed Judge Clayton, vastly re- lieved. She had done what he had hoped she w r ould do, but what he had been unable to tell her. The same formula was gone through with as to Clayton. He also refused to plead. This meant that neither one could produce witnesses. It also meant that neither one could be asked ques- tions. It left the government to prove its case by testimony aside from that of the accused them- selves. It was Judge Clayton's idea. Usually those accused by the government were eager to testify, and their most innocent statements would be dis- torted into an admission of guilt. The resignation of Francisco had also been planned by the Judge. It was for two reasons, one for delay, the other, that the sympathy of 206 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL the audience and the Judges might be gained by the spectacle of these two charming young people being " hunted " as it were, by the brutal negro, who was generally hated, besides Judge Clayton knew he was next on the list, and had perhaps counted on his lack of intelligence. " Proceed with the trial of Seuorita Inez," said Robeldo. " The witnesses for the king will come forward and be sworn," said the clerk. Maria and Val- dez were escorted to the Judges' table and sworn. Judge Clayton looked relieved; he had expected many more. " Eh ! " said the Vice Roy. " But the young girl Carmen where is she? " "Eh! The devil!" said one of the judges, " We forgot all about her last night. She escaped in the confusion but these will answer our pur- pose." " Valdez ! " said Romero. Valdez seated himself in the chair reserved for witnesses. "Your name!" said Romero. " Valdez ! " AND THE VICEROY. 207 "A peon?" "Si!" " Late of ' II Renegade's > army? " " Late of ' II Liberator's ' army? " " Last night at the Patio, you said the prisoner, Senorita Inez, was ' one of us.' " Judge Clayton had expected that the question would be as to whether Valdez knew Clayton, and as to whether the latter had been also of " II Liberator's " army and as to whether or not Yal- dez knew why Clayton had come to the city, but Romero neglected so to do. He assumed that many things that ought to have been shown by testimony were already known to the Judges. Besides, he considered the whole trial a farce, there could be no question but what there would be a conviction. Judge Clayton silently chuckled as he noticed the blunder. " Si ! " said Valdez. " Meaning of the rebels." Si of the patriots." "Why?" " I thought her too good, too noble to be a Spaniard," said Valdez. 208 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL "Carramba, you trifle," said Romero. "Well you are a rebel ! " " Si ! " " And you said she was one of us." " I said I thought her one of us si ! " " That is all," said Romero, vastly pleased at the sound of his own voice and forgetting that he had never mentioned the list or the song or a dozen other things, and not suspecting he had left any holes in the testimony. " Senors," said Judge Clayton, " solely in the interests of my nephew, may I ask a few ques- tions?" He had determined, if it were possible, to clear Inez, although realizing that he might possibly by so doing, not help Tom, but he argued " if I can get her off in the face of their certainty that she is guilty, I shall shake them in their determination to shoot everybody and they will hesitate on account of Tom's nationality, to act precipitately in regard to him. He spoke most courteously. Robeldo, as courteously, signified assent to his request. AND THE VICEROY. 209 " You said, you thought her one of us," he be- gan. "Si!" " That was what, guess-work? " "Si!" "Simply your guess?" "Si!" " But but " sputtered Romero. " Be silent," said Robeldo. " You must not interrupt." Judge Clayton continued. " Well, you also said, last night, did you not, l she is true to Spain ' was that guess-work? " " No I knew she was true to Spain when she accused Senor Clayton." " And you heard her say you ought to be ' strong for execution.' So that it will hurt." " Si ! " " And her say of Tom Clayton, ' I loathe him and despise him as a traitor ' or words to that effect." " Si ! " said Valdez. " I think that will do," said Judge Clayton and sat down. The audience looked interested. 210 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL " To be sure," said one to the other, " he only guessed she was a rebel what presumption ! " " Maria ! " said Romero coarsely. " I will have you understand," said Maria, taking the witness-stand, "that my name is Seiiorita Maria y Mercedes Mendoza." " Your condition? " "A countess I was born in Spain, I live in this city." " Tell what you know of the connection of the accused with the Revolution." " Eh, Senors," said Maria, " I can tell you things. From her earliest years she has ex- pressed sympathy with the condemned." " One moment," said Judge Clayton, interrupt- ing. " I object." " Why? " queried Romero. " She said ' expressed sympathy ' that may mean that Inez was sorry they were rebels. I am you are. I would know what was actually said." " Assuredly," said Robeldo. " It should make a stronger case. Tell us what she actually said." AND THE VICEROY. 211 " Eh pesta," said Maria. " It was so long ago, I cannot remember." " Precisely," interjected Judge Clayton. Maria glared at him and continued. " Well, she wore Revolutionary colors, men came to her lattice. Yesterday morning, I came to her house early; there was a beggar there. Later, I returned. Gomez, the man who was later assassinated, was there. He showed me a list of rebels' names. I bought it, he thought I was Inez." " One moment," said Judge Clayton. " How could she possibly know what he thought? " " Bah ! " said Maria. " He called me Inez, he told me that one told him." " Hold on, hold on," said the Judge. " Can she testify as to what some one said some one else told him?" " Well how else can I show anything? " said Romero. " I haven't the least idea," said the Judge. "Bah!" said Maria. " W 7 hat matters it? Gomez went away, the beggar of the morning appeared, he had been concealed there. Senors, 212 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL he was not a beggar, he was an American he was Senor Clayton and a year ago, in the jungle, she begged his life of Romero. I later saw him in the rebels' camp." She paused, pleased by the sensation caused by her last words. " The devil ! " muttered Judge Clayton to him- self. " She is becoming dangerous. Still she hasn't said yet Tom was a rebel she saw him in the camp um " But Maria was still talking. " Later you all heard Gomez say, ' there is a spy here a woman, she that the American came to see.' Who did he come to see? " " One moment, one moment," said Judge Clay- ton. " Is the witness to argue, while we have an eloquent Judge Advocate? " He bowed to Romero. " Confine yourself to what you saw and heard," said Romero. " Bah ! I will myself tell what it means." " Peste that is what I am doing," said Maria. " Proceed ! " said Robeldo. "Well, last evening, Inez told me that Clay- ton had come back. You remember he disap- AND THE VICEROY. 213 peared while Gomez was dying," she addressed the Judges. " Si," they assented. " No evidence about that," said Judge Clay- ton. " Eh " said Robeldo " I was there do not I know?" " Well, later, from the balcony, I saw her talk- ing to ' Judas! ' continued Maria. " I suspected her. Then I saw the list that was said to be her dance list picked up by Romero here it was the same as that sold me by Gomez." "That will do," said Romero. " Eh didn't I bring it all out eh is there any question of the guilt of Senorita Inez? " " May I ask a few questions, solely in the in- terests of my nephew?" came the honey-like tones of Judge Clayton. Again Robeldo signified his assent and the Judge rose. Maria hated and despised him, this meddling old Yankee. She stiffened herself to meet his questions, but he attacked her unex- pectedly. 214 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL " You were once engaged betrothed, to Lieu- tenant Francisco ! " " Bah that is my affair! " Hitherto, her testimony had been given calmly, dispassionately. She had made a good impres- sion. Judge Clayton meant to rouse her temper ; he succeeded, her glance was enough to scorch him. " Ah quite so," he observed. " But after a while, he met Senorita Inez and became less attentive." "Si! The cat!" " As you say, the cat. Well, you were jealous." " What? I never! I am a Spaniard ! " " Of course of course," said the Judge. " And Spanish ladies are never jealous." He paused to give effect to his words. The great fans of the ladies fluttered violently, they nudged each other. " Ah, it is clear," said one to another, " Maria accused Inez from jealousy. Eh it is evident. I should have done the same, but the judges will not see they are men." But Maria was again speaking. The fans AND THE VICEROY. 215 ceased fluttering, all but the fan of Inez, which she waved back and forth indolently, as though the proceedings had for her the most indifferent interest. Maria looked at her indignantly; the game was not going at all as she expected. " Pah " she was saying, " why should I be jealous I wore Francisco's ring. Inez never had his ring. Bah no, such a one as it was a ruby, a topaz and an emerald bah, jealous never ! I wearied of Francisco ! " As she spoke of the jewels of the ring, Judge Clayton pricked up his ears. Here was a chance to make an unexpected point. " Precisely," said he, as though sympathizing with Maria and interested in her ring. " The stones of the ring were red, yellow and green." " Si ! " said Maria. " Ah what are these Revolutionary colors that this wicked Inez has worn I am a stranger and would know." " Why, Senor," said Maria, " red, yellow and green ! " " Why, isn't that curious," said Judge Clayton, 216 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL " just like your ring why, you were wearing Revolutionary colors yourself." Judge Clayton's face was wreathed in smiles, his good nature was contagious. A ripple of laughter frolicked round the room. " Ha ! Ha ! laughed Maria, with the others. "Why, so I did!" As she spoke, she glanced at the Judges and the Vice Roy. They were not laughing, they looked at her grimly, suspiciously. She grew suddenly grave, as she turned again to face Judge Clayton. Suddenly the point of the ques- tion came to her . "Bah! You beast!" she snapped, in wrath, at Judge Clayton. " You said that on purpose to make me ridiculous." " Where is that ring now? " The Judge asked the question at a venture. He was " fishing," solely in the interests of " my nephew." As he would have said, he got more than he bargained for. Maria looking at Inez, had determined to give her something to think of, so she lied. " I gave it to Seiior Clayton, when he escorted' me, disgusted with Inez, from her house." AND THE VICEROY. 217 " The devil ! " thought the Judge. " Getting Inez out of the mud, gets Tom in the mire, but never mind, I'll risk it." " Yes ! Yes ! " he shouted. " You were wear- ing Revolutionary colors, you were giving rings to my nephew, you were alone in his company eh! What! Any duenna?" " Why, no" said Maria, " but" " Was there or was there not, a duenna? " " No, you beast ! " said the exasperated Maria. " Young woman, haven't I treated you with perfect courtesy? " said the Judge. " Why, si, Senor," said Maria, abashed. " Well, you saw Senor Clayton in the rebels' camp? " " Si I did." " And I suppose he saw you there? " " Why, I suppose so." "Bach of you saw the other?" "Bah! Yes!" " Bah ! " said Judge Clayton. It was express- ive. " Of a surety," said one to another, " it was nothing to have seen him there." 2i8 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL "Now," said the Judge. "You are a loyal Spaniard." His idea had been to direct the minds of the Judges to what he considered the immaterial parts of the testimony, endeavor to make the immaterial, if possible, the material. "Si!" said Maria. " And it is only the disloyal and " the Judge turned to the ladies, " the pretty, at whose lat- tices young men come tum-tumming on those guitars." " Eh carramba," said Maria. " I have many singing at my lattice." " But you said, as one of your charges against Inez, that men came to her lattice." "I didn't!" " Eh what? " "You certainly said so," said Robeldo, "and was connected, I presume, in your mind with what you said of the sympathy she expressed for the rebels. I so construed your testimony." " Bah," said Maria, " have it your own way ! " "Now you have said," continued the Judge, " that Senorita Inez begged Senor Clayton's life in the jungle, a year ago." AND THE VICEROY. 219 " Si it is true ! " said Maria. "On what grounds?" " That he was an envoy." " Seiiors," said Judge Clayton, " I am sure that you do not approve of executing envoys you the representatives of Spain." The Judges solemnly shook their heads. Of course not that is, officially. " Now," said the Judge, " did you ever know of Sefior Clayton's meeting Seiiorita Inez un- less you were present? " " No," said Maria. " And how many times? " " Three ! " said Maria. " Once in the jungle, once at the Residence, and once, last night, at the Patio." " And here to-day," said the Judge. " And at the time when Gomez was stabbed yesterday." The Judge lost no opportunities to show that she was inaccurate. "Si," said Maria. " Did you ever hear any conversations between them?" " Bah yes ! He " 220 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL " I only asked whether there was a conversa- tion," said the Judge. " Not what it was. You are a little too fast for me." He bowed more courteously. Maria, smilingly bowed in return. Judge Clayton continued " Now Senorita Inez is the belle of the Prov- ince." " Bah ! " " All the men make love to her ! " " As many make love to me ! " " Well, when you and she and Clayton were together, I suppose he had no eyes for you." It was a long shot. Judge Clayton was a little anxious as he put the question. " Jesu, he had no admiration for her ! " "What!" " Bah he saw through her, he upbraided her, he left her presence with me ! " " Why why " said the Judge. " Didn't Inez and he whisper together? Didn't you hear them plot together against the Vice Roy and the king all wrapped up in each other? Maria was now suspicious. She judged from the questioner's tone that he wanted her to say, AND THE VICEROY. 221 for some devilish purpose of his own, that Inez and Tom had plotted together, so she answered the other way he would find she knew what she was about. " Carramba ! No ! He quarreled with her frightfully!" In the corner of Judge Clayton's right eye, was a twinkle. He had fathomed Maria. The Vice Roy and the Judges looked at her in aston- ishment, but Judge Clayton was now going on rapidly, his questions came like pistol-shots. " You talked with Gomez before he appeared at the examination of Valdez." " Si he made a bargain with me, the liar ! I couldn't believe a word he said." "And he said Inez was a spy?" " Si, senor!" The Vice Roy and the Judges had caught the point, they scowled at Maria. Inez still lan- guidly fanned herself. The audience smilingly looked at Judge Clayton. What a simple, honest old Caballero he was, what simple questions he asked but how sensible. 222 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL "And he made a bargain with you for what?" The list." "You bargained for the list?" "Si!" " Did you see Inez drop the list at the Patio? " " No I saw it in her hand I knew its appear- ance." " A folded piece of paper? " " Si ! " " You didn't read the paper in her hand ? " " No ! " " How do you know it was not the dance list Inez called it?" " Oh, carramba have done ! " said Maria. " You mix me up." " Well, for aught you know, it was the dance list." " Have it your own way," said Maria. She was tired, disgusted. Why had she not thought to dress better? "Eh Jesu," she continued, "why all this rubbish? Gomez, at the council said there is a AND THE VICEROY. 223 spy here, a woman she whom the Yankee came to see." " You never knew of Inez being alone in Clay- ton's company? " " I have said so before." " With you he went away " " Carramba yes ! " " You gave him a ring " " Bah but Gomez said " " I didn't hear him say anything," said Judge Clayton, looking at her out of wide open innocent- looking blue eyes " bless me did he say any- thing? I didn't hear him." " Carramba, I did. I stood beside him. He lifted his hand, he pointed at me, he said " " And at you he pointed," thundered Judge Clayton. " And you are such a dear girl such a sweet girl ! " " Senor, I despise you, I spit upon you ! " " I think I will not trouble you further," said Judge Clayton. He bowed courteously to the Vice Koy, the Judges and the spectators and sat down. Meanwhile, Maria had stepped from the wit- 224 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL ness-stand and walked toward the spectators. As she did so, the officers turned their backs upon her, the ladies drew aside their skirts. She turned to leave the room, the Vice Roy made a gesture and the sentinel refused to let her pass. "You may argue, said Robeldo to Romero." AND THE VICEROY. 225 CHAPTER IV. THE ARGUMENTS. " You may argue," said Robeldo to Romero. " In a courtmartial, the accused has the last word." Romero stood pondering for a moment. In spite of his ignorance and brutality, he was a man of considerable force and vigor. He could not skilfully ask questions like Judge Clayton, but like all his countrymen, white, black, brown and mixed, he could, on occasion, speak well and to the point. The case, indeed, was not yet won. " See here, you judges," he said, " of course the Seiiorita Inez is guilty. Why, this trial it- self is just a sign of the times. Here is the Creole," he pointed to Inez, " brought up under the fostering care of Spain," he pointed to the Vice Roy. " She is a rebel ! The black man, 226 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL once her slave, accuses her! The daughter of Spain," he bowed awkwardly to Maria, " wit- nessed against her. The young sprigs just out from the mother country," he sneered at Fran- cisco, " don't dare act against her ! The med- dling American, not knowing anything of the country, tries to protect her, because she flirts with his filibustering relative. The Indian," he shook his fist at Valdez, " hates the Spaniard and suspects the Creole ! Bah ! This thing happened like this this Senorita Inez falls in love with the Yankee Clayton, he was a prisoner in the village when she came from the convent ! " " There's not a particle of evidence to show that," said Judge Clayton. " He is drawing inferences, senor," said Ro- beldo, " let him proceed." " Shades of Lord Mansfield and the Common Law," muttered Judge Clayton. Romero continued " Well Inez sees him in the jungle. I well remember the day, I was there; we missed her, when we fled, hearing II Liberator's bugles. Now, she may have seen the Arch Rebel and AND THE VICEROY. 227 promised, somehow or other, to help him. A plan is made, perhaps II Liberator says he will come in a year again, if all is ready. Well, she returns to the village and II Liberator goes away. In a year he sends this Yankee, as a messenger, to see her, not expecting that Gomez, who de- serted him, would also be in the city why flames of hell I see it all! She was to keep Gomez from giving the list to the Vice Roy. Clayton came to see whether she had succeeded. Gomez meets Senorita Maria I don't know but she was in the plot also, but that is neither here nor there. Gomez makes accusation at the coun- cil and the Yankee runs away why probably Inez told him to and later, told him to hide in the 1 Judas/ where she afterward, to save her own neck, accused him. Bah! Valdez was not in the secret of that accusation, he didn't under- stand it. He said, ' I thought her one of us ' he meant the rebels, and her jig was up. Bah ! Condemn her like men ! Have her shot and have a drink with me afterward ! " He ceased speaking and sat down glaring and panting. 228 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL " The devil ! " said Francisco. "Eh then she is guilty, after all," said the senoritas. " I am glad I am not in her shoes ! " Inez still fanned herself idly, a smile, now and then, flitting across her face. " Senors," said Judge Clayton, " it is unusual, but this affects my nephew may I not say a few words? " " By all means," said Robeldo. Judge Clayton had won everybody's liking. They enjoyed his little mistakes in Spanish. He bowed and addressed them " Senors," he said, " I am a stranger here, a foreigner, but I admire Spanish justice, the jus- tice with bandaged eyes that listens for the truth. When I was a young man, I lived, as I do now, in Kentucky. At that time, the Spanish ruled to our south in Louisiana and I learnt then to appreciate the justice of Spain." Indeed he had, but not in the way his hearers thought he meant, still his seeming flattery visibly impressed them. " Ah, senors, you and I, who are past our youth, know the meaning of justice. Many of you have daughters, how sweet they are, how AND THE VICEROY. 229 innocent! and every night you sleep in security, because the justice of Spain protects them. ' Senors, I am a plain man and, as a plain man should, seek only for the truth and that truth, seuors, and the justice of Spain, will protect Se- fiorita Inez, not flights of rhetoric, nor fancy, but the truth for this case against her, is noth- ing but a mass of invention, fabrication, innu- endo, falsehood and perversion of facts. You and I know this we have listened to the evidence and we are elderly men, men past our youth, not to be deceived." He had taken the Judges into his confidence, they were already his allies. . " A young girl, the ward of the Vice Roy, has grown to womanhood among you," he continued. " Brought up in the most loyal house in the province, and she is accused of high treason and by whom? By a jealous woman and what won't a jealous woman do? She says, does this woman, that Inez expressed sympathy for the rebels and then can't remember a word she said. Shoot her for that and you will shoot every pitying heart in the country! She says that men came to her 230 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL lattice! Why, every pretty young girl in the country has hundreds of young fellows ' turn, turn, tumming ' on those guitars at their lattices. Shoot her for that and you will shoot half the young girls in the country, your own daughters ! She says that Seiiorita Inez wore revolutionary colors. Why, senors, the sunset was yellow last evening, red this morning, the grass is green. Shoot her for that and you will shoot all crea- tion! Shoot her for that and you shoot the ac- cuser herself, who wore those colors in her ring Donna Maria ! " The Judge swept his eyes over the spectators and the Judges. They were sitting as still as the carven caryatids of the stone balcony. " They say she is guilty," he thundered, " be- cause they say she is the sweetheart of my nephew, against whom, so far, not one word has been adduced to show any connection between him and the rebels. Not one word other than that he and Maria looked at each other in the Rebels' camp eh they are both young and un- married ! Bah ! " The exclamation seemed a bomb-shell that, exploding, scattered the idea of AND THE VICEROY. 231 anything between Clayton and Inez to the winds the Judge again paused. He caught his nephew's eye, Tom was looking blue, his uncle's argument was even persuading him. The Judge winked at him and continued " Come to the facts, seuors. What did she say last night at the Patio? ' I have found out what none of you know in Judas is concealed the Yankee spy, Senor Clayton! I despise him as a traitor! Mark, senors I loathe him! I ac- cuse him ! ' does that sound as though they were sweethearts? Then there was a criminal there and, senors, this criminal says and wouldn't he be apt to smirch the Vice Roy's family, wouldn't he if he could an Indian, who as my brother," he bowed to Romero, but he made a wry face, for his Kentucky blood was not yet educated to calling a black man " brother," even in the legal sense " as my brother says, ' hates the Spaniard and suspects the Creole ' this criminal says ' I thought her one of us/ His think, that's all, his guess. Says so, under oath. But he said more, he said ' When she accused Senor Clay- ton, I knew she was true to Spain,' and true to 232 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL Spain she stands here, seuors, and Spain and Spanish justice should be true to her ! " He had them now, and he might have stopped then and there, but he went on. Perhaps it would have been better if he had not, but he noticed the Vice Roy's cool, grim face and wanted to cover with more dust the issue. " Ah, senors, there was a man murdered here yesterday, a ragged tatterdemalion, coming from, no one knew where. Seilorita Maria said he said Inez was a spy; all the evidence, by the way, there is against Inez; and in the next breath, says she couldn't believe a word he said, that he was a liar ! Didn't she now, didn't she, isn't it in the evidence? " Then it is argued that, when in his dying mo- ments, Gomez shrieked ' there is a spy here, a woman,' he meant Senorita Inez. Seiiors, he did say, ' there is a spy here, a woman. She whom the Yankee came to see/ Not a word against the Yankee, mind you. Well, senors, whom did he come to see who gave him a betrothal ring who walked with him alone, who, senors, who? Who talked with Gomez, the murdered man, who AND THE VICEROY. 233 bought from him that famous list, who makes a false accusation, at whom pointed Gomez in his last moments who, senors look ! " He whirled on his heels and pointed a long, ac- cusing finger at Maria, who cowered before him, white and faint. "Who senors, who? Donna Maria Mercedes Mendoza. And who ever said she was true to Spain?" " Save me, Inez, save me ! " shrieked Maria. " He is the devil ! " " Ah h " a concentrated hiss greeted Maria's outcry. Judge Clayton bowed and sat down. " Have you determined on your verdict? " said the Vice Koy sharply. " Only one verdict is possible," said Kobeldo. He rose and whispered to the Vice Roy. " Any- thing else will mean revolution and our assassi- nation ! Look ! " The Vice Roy looked. The young officers were fumbling at their swords and looked at the Judges as though ready to spring. " Your verdict," said the Vice Roy sharply. 234 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL " Not guilty," said the Judges. " Arrest Sefiorita Maria," said the Vice Roy. The next moment, a cheer that was heard a mile away, rang through the hall. An avalanche of women descended on Judge Clayton, a cloud of gold-laced gallants surrounded Inez. The latter was borne from the room, all tears and laughter. The Judge remained, for the Vice Roy was sharply speaking to the Judges. " We adjourn till sunset," he said. " The devil fly away with trials, we have learnt nothing ! At sunset, we will go back to the good old Span- ish way. Ask Maria to confess if she does not, shoot her! As for the Yankee, marry him to Donna Espana ! ! " "Donna who?" said Judge Clayton to Ro- mero. " Donna Espana is the rack," said Romero. " I thought the Vice Roy had something up his sleeve." " The devil ! " said Judge Clayton. AND THE VICEROY. 235 CHAPTER V. HOW THEY ESCORTED SENORITA INEZ TO THE RESI- DENCE. WHEN Inez was borne from the prison by the cheering officers, they placed her in an open car in the street. They covered the ropes with which it was to be drawn with flowers, and they dragged her through the cobble-stoned and narrow lane- like streets to the Residence, up one street and down another, they went cheering and singing " Espana ! Patria de los valientes ! " From the balconies of the houses, laughing girls showered flowers upon her as she stood, a gleaming vision of white, bowing to this side and that, holding with difficulty to the shoulder of Francisco, as he walked beside her and laugh- ingly dodging the flowers that rained upon her but in spite of her laughter, she was very pale 236 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL and while her lips parted in her smiles to the people, great tears, now and then, rolled down her cheeks. The people in the streets, the poorer ones, did not cheer. They looked sullen and suspicious, and as the rolling voices of the officers sang " Espana, Espaiia ! Patria de los valientes ! " their faces became blacker and blacker. " Eh," said a peon to his neighbor, " she is, after all, a Spaniard. We are again betrayed ! " "Who is this Judge Clayton? He has the eloquence, a guard told me, of the devil address- ing hell," said another. " Bah ! Do you not know? " said his neighbor. " An American hidalgo, the Duke of Kentucky. He is an Indian and has come to ask for Senorita Inez to be the second wife of his President. Eh ! it is as I say. Eh ! It is the fact ! " But Inez did not hear the comments. She was scanning anxiously the balconies and the crowded street corners. The next house belonged to a leader of the patriot's party. As she passed be- low the balcony, she thought she saw, for an in- stant, the face of Carmen. The next moment, a AND THE VICEROY. 237 huge bouquet was hurled toward her. Francisco caught it. " Eh ! " he said. " Some one is sending you a love-letter ! " He pointed to a note in the midst of the blos- soms. " Give it to me ! " she said. He did so. " Espafia, Eispafia ! Patria de los valientes " sang the officers. And so, laughing, singing and cheering, they brought her to the Residence. The Vice Roy was there already. As the flower-covered car came jolting through the entrance, he shrugged his shoulders. " Eh ! Strange," he muttered. "Is it in the blood? How they crowd about her so they cheered and crowded about him years ago in the Eastern Provinces ! " 238 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL CHAPTER VI. THE VICE ROY'S IDEA. "An, Senor, you are a noble fellow!" It was Francisco who was speaking. It was three o'clock in the afternoon and he was ad- dressing Clayton, who had been brought to the hall of the trial for an interview with the Aide- de-Camp. " What am I noble about? " said Clayton. " I am in a devilish fix ! " " Eh ! You will refuse to confess then they will put you in the rack. The agony will be excruciating, but bah; the stoicism of the North Americans, all of whom are Indians, will cause you to bear it with fortitude. What a moment! Then they will shoot you." " What in heaven's name are you driving at? " AND THE VICEROY. 239 "Eh! What? You don't know? " " I certainly don't ! " " Ah, pardon me ! Listen ! At the close of the trial of Inez this morning, the Vice Roy ordered that at sunset, you and Maria be again brought before him ! " "Well?" " He also said that he would, at that time, marry you to Donna Espana." " What? " said Tom. " I won't do it, I don't know her! It's a damned outrage! Marry me against my will thunder ! I reckon not ! " " Eh ! Not so fast or so much, I pray you ! " said Francisco. " Donna Espana is the rack. We give her a woman's name, for she gets pos- session of secrets besides, it is brutal to call such a thing by its name, the very sound of ' rack ' gets on one's nerves and we are tender-hearted." " For God's sake come to the point ! " said Tom. " Oh, Seuor, do not be impatient in a mo- ment ! " Francisco gracefully rolled a cigarette, placed it between his teeth, lighted it and continued. " Senor Judge Clayton, learning the Vice Roy's 240 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL intention, protested with some heat, indeed quite rudely, against the use of torture." " I bet he did ! " muttered Tom. "Well, the Vice Roy made a proposition. It was, that you write out, under oath, your whole connection with this business, your uncle pledg- ing his word that it is true, that then you leave the country at once and forever. The Vice Roy appreciates that you are a foreigner, an Ameri- canand simply wants information." "Well?" " Senor Judge Clayton, said it was a fair offer. He would leave the matter to you." " Urn m ! " said Tom. " Eh ! Jesu ! I knew of course you would refuse, but came as the Vice Roy's messenger, to ask your answer. Of course, if you confess, Senorita Inez will be shot bah, I know. The acquittal will amount to nothing and you have a noble heart rather than that, you will let them shoot you and spare her. Ah ! I will be a tender husband to her ! " "But Maria?" " Carramba ! Better she than the other ! " AND THE VICEROY. 241 " See here," said Tom, " tell them that if they will give me half an hour with Seiiorita Maria, here alone I will give them my answer ! " All Tom was hoping for was delay, time and their troubles would be over. Time and a chance to have the signal given that would bring the army of liberation from the mountains. Meanwhile, Seflorita Inez found, that though acquitted, at home, apparently restored to the Vice Roy's favor and the heroine of the day she was still little better than a prisoner. Donna Isabella attended her like her shadow. The guards, at the entrance to the Residence, courteously, but firmly, refused to let her leave the house. The letter which was concealed in the bou- quet which had, she thought, been thrown by Car- men, during her -triumphal progress, had told her that II Liberator's adherents in the city, were doubtful and suspicious on account of the cheers of the Spanish officers over her acquittal and of the acquittal itself, thinking, that to obtain it, she must have made some bargain with the government; that none of them would risk giv- 24 2 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL ing the signal to II Liberator and that they would rise in the latter's support only in case Inez her- self gave the signal agreed upon, from the prison of the Capucins and it was answered from the mountains; that they had at first thought her imprisonment there had been planned by her, but that her acquittal and what followed, had led them to doubt; that the patrols would allow no one to enter or leave the city ; that Carmen herself could not get entrance to the prison, as Romero had been put in command of the prison guard; that Valdez and Clayton, though at the prison, were presumably so closely watched that they could effect nothing and that unless there should be " a miracle of the blessed Saints, who are Spaniards and therefore against us," all must be a failure. " Jesu, why do you follow me so closely? " said Inez to Donna Isabella. " By the orders of His High Mightiness," said the old lady. " Bah ! " said Inez. " I will speak to him ! " She entered the council room, as Francisco returned from his errand to Clayton and became AND THE VICEROY. 243 acquainted with the offer of the Vice Roy and Tom Clayton's answer. " What? " she exclaimed. " A half hour alone with Maria ! Eh ! Outrageous ! " " Was it not Senorita Inez he wished to see? " said one of the officers, who was still suspicious of the Vice Roy's ward. " Carramba ! No ! " said Francisco. " He would talk with Maria." " His request supports Judge Clayton's argu- ment of this morning," said the Vice Roy. " I am inclined to grant the request. Eh, seilors some- thing might be overheard ! " "Are not our deliberations likely to, to weary Seuorita Inez? " said the suspicious officer. Inez courtesied and left the room. " Carramba ! " said Francisco. " I would re- fuse the request. I believe he will not open his lips for any reason." " I demand that the request be granted," said Judge Clayton. " I shall grant it," said the Vice Roy. But Seuor," he bowed to Judge Clayton, " I fear our 244 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL further deliberations may also weary you." Judge Clayton bowed in return and left them. " Senors," said the Vice Hoy, when they were again by themselves, " There is much meat in the idea that has come to me that something might be overheard. Eh! Romero, you know the prison?" " Eh ! " said Romero. " If only " " What? " said the Vice Roy. " I was about to suggest that much more might be overheard if Senorita Inez had been called for by the Yankee." " Bah ! " said Francisco. " You are ugly be- cause the case went against you." " Hell's flames, no ! " said Romero. " But I wish you would suggest to her that she can bid farewell to the Yankee or to Maria and at the prison." " Uh m " said the Vice Roy. " Lieutenant Francisco, will you play eavesdropper? " " Madre a dios I am an officer ! " said Fran- cisco. " Pah ! You are an idler do you refuse my request or do you again resign?" The Vice AND THE VICEROY. 245 Roy watched Francisco closely. Francisco grew a little uneasy. " Eh ! No ! " said he. " Your requests always have a certain force that makes one respect them." He shrugged his shoulders and bowed. " Then you will go? " said the Vice Roy. " Eh ! But I was about to observe that Senorita Maria " He paused a moment. "Do you go or not?" said the Vice Roy sharply. " Eh ! Carramba ! I will go ! " said Francisco. 246 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL CHAPTER VII. HOW FRANCISCO CAME TO OVERHEAR WHAT CERTAIN PERSONS SAID AMONG THEMSELVES. A GUARD came to tell Clayton that the Vice Roy had granted his request and that Senorita Maria was waiting for him in the hall of trial. Clayton followed the man from his cell, along a damp stone corridor, then up the winding stairs of the tower, as he had done twice before that day and found himself bowing to Sefiorita Maria in the empty and echoing hall of trial. " Eh, Senor Yankee, you wished to see me it is not unusual ! " Maria held her fan coquettishly before her eyes. " Er yes," said Tom. Now he had obtained the interview, he did not quite know what to say. " Eh ! Senor how sad it is, that we are likely AND THE VICEROY. 247 to die, but together ah, you will hold my hand and look at me eh, with affection? " said Maria. " But you are Francisco's sweetheart ! " " Eh ! Jesu, yes ! But he does not die with me, you will, Senor the Senoritas will envy me, the poets will write verses of us it is not so bad ! " " Oh, isn't it? " " Eh ! Seiior come nearer thank you speak in a low tone of voice these rooms have ears, all prisons have. Eh! Yes, some one is probably trying to listen to us! " " The devil ! " "Yes! Isn't it?" As they spoke, Maria led Tom to the chairs behind the Judges' table. She pointed to the canopied chair of the Vice Roy and shrugged her shoulders. Tom looked closely at the chair but perceived nothing. " See here ! " he said, resolutely. Maria put her finger to her lips, but Tom went on, paying no attention to the gesture. " I have been told that if I tell everything, I can get out of this, but if I do, Inez is likely to be shot, in spite of her acquittal. Now, if I don't 24 8 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL tell, you will be shot and that is, after all, not right." " Eh ! The viper Inez," said Maria. " Pah ! What a mess I have made of things but come, you will tell them the truth not only of Inez, but eh ! Perhaps a little about Francisco. Come Senor, I would not be shot ! " " That's it," said Tom. " I don't want you shot, I don't want anybody shot, but how in thunder can I prevent it? Can't you think of something? You are devilish ingenious." As Maria did not answer, Tom, who had been talking with his hands in his pockets, his eyes roving about the room, looked at her. She had mounted the platform on which stood the Vice Roy's chair and was violently shaking the cur- tains that surrounded it. A cloud of dust flew out into the room, from behind it sounded a gurgle, then " kichew ! " " Bah ! " said Maria. " I knew some one was listening. Eh! But such imbeciles to try to catch me in such a manner. Pah ! " As she spoke, Francisco jauntily stepped from behind the canopy. AND THE VICEROY. 249 " Jesu ! What an idiot you are ! " said Maria. " How often have you told me of what you have overheard in that place. Eh! Just think " she added, turning to Tom, " he is the only one of the staff thin enough to stand in the recess there I suspected something when I was told we were to have an interview." She turned her back on Francisco and walked across the room, throwing, as it were, descriptive adjectives at him over her shoulder. " Coward ! Eavesdropper ! Idiot ! Beast ! Viper ! " She paused out of breath. " Maria," came the voice of Inez from the gallery. All looked up in surprise. " Eh ! " said Francisco. " The Vice Roy told me she was to come and bid Maria farewell. I was ordered to listen as to what was said. Eh, bah! What nonsense! Of course, Senor Clay- ton will say nothing he will be shot. And Maria and Inez would simply have called each other ' darling ' and then have insulted one an- other. Pah ! Maria is to be shot anyway ! " Maria's voice, addressing Inez, interrupted him. 250 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL " You cat ! You hussy ! " she screamed. " You have come to gloat over me. Bah! How you have lied you little saint! How you have all lied ! " She indicated the three listeners with a gesture. " Senorita, Senorita ! " said Inez. " Do not accuse us so, for though there is much in what you say, yet believe me, you yourself have been the principal one to bring these misfortunes on us all ! " " Eh ! Shades of Ananias ! " said Maria. " What a purgatory of a time you have caused me! Bah! You plan to have me shot! Eh! Outrageous! That you may be a bigamist and marry both of these imbeciles." She pointed at Clayton and Francisco. Tom Clayton laughed, he could not help it, though he realized that it would be well to gain Maria's friendship. " By all the Saints," said Maria, " if I am shot, he" she pointed at Clayton, " shall be shot also, and that will hurt you, Senorita Inez!" " Ah ! I will comfort you," said Francisco to Inez. "Maria, exasperated beyond endurance, took him by the hair and shook him." AND THE VICEROY. 251 " Eh ! You infamous traitor ! " said Maria. " Do you think you will escape? Ah, Jesu ! But I can tell a thing or two about you, I can imagine much bah! It will go hard if I do not have a trial as well as Inez and if I do eh! Master Francisco, you will find yourself in hot water ! " She meant business, and Francisco saw that she was really dangerous. " Now, now, be reasonable," he said. " Car- ramba, just because you are going to be shot, why should you involve me? I can't marry a ghost, can I even such a sweet little ghost as you will make." " Ah h ! " hissed Maria, making a face at Francisco. Francisco airily snapped his fingers. " Don't begin gibbering at me now," he said. As he spoke, Maria, exasperated beyond endur- ance, took him by the hair and shook him. " Ho ! Guards ! Romero ! Take her away ! " shouted Francisco, as his military cloak dropped from his shoulders, the flower in his buttonhole shed its petals and his laced hat left his hand. In a moment, the iron door at the foot of the 252 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL tower opened and Romero and some guards entered. " The devil! " muttered Clayton. " I am glad I have not said much." " Take her away ! " sputtered Francisco. Judge Clayton was right. Maria is the spy ! Eh ! Car- ramba ! She is a terrible person ! " In a moment more, the guards had borne Maria away, leaving Tom Clayton almost hysterical from laughter. Never, never, could he under- stand these people, who quarreled like children, loved and hated in a breath, were loyal and treacherous, fought like devils, dissolved to tears at a sentiment and assassinated, murdered and executed it was all one with no more compunc- tion than he would use in killing a mosquito. " Ah ! Senor," said Francisco. " One must defend oneself but you would bid this one fare- well," he indicated Inez. " Do so I will com- pose some blank verse ! " He turned and ascended the stairs leading to the gallery. On the topmost stair, he seated him- self, his whole action seeming to express a deli- AND THE VICEROY. 253 cate desire on his part to leave Inez and Tom to themselves. Tom beckoned to Inez and she followed him to the open arches. He was silent for a moment, looking across the beautiful Vega to the moun- tains. " Curse II Liberator ! " he growled. " Why isn't he here? " " Ah, Jesu ! If we could but signal him ! " said Inez. " It is here the lights should burn, all is ready, the people will rise if only we can burn the lights and he answers them." She rested her cheek, for a moment, on Tom's coat-sleeve. " Confess, senor ! " she whispered. " Tell them the truth that I am the spy. Eh! For God's sake, dear one, you must not, shall not be shot! Eh ! Tell them, then get away, go to the moun- tains. Tell II Liberator what has happened." " If I confess, I shall be under parole," said Tom, " and you would be shot in five minutes. If a woman must be sacrificed to please the Vice Roy, let it be that vixen Maria. I won't confess, that's flat!" 254 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL He bent and kissed her as he spoke. " But if Maria is shot, you will be shot," said Inez. " Eh ! Jesu ! Shall she be your spirit companion, your angel friend and wander alone with you in in Paradise? Eh! Never!" She half-laughed as she spoke, but the tears were just behind. " Eh ! Perdition ! If you will not confess, I will confess. She shall not die with you I will die with you ! " As she spoke, she rested her hand, for an in- stant, on an iron bar that served for a railing behind the arches. It seemed to crumble at her touch and fell to the ground sixty feet below. " What a rotten old place this is," said Tom. " If it were not for the guards " He paused. The light of a great idea flashed into Inez's face. " Francisco ! Francisco ! " she called. " How does one get out of here? Eh! Francisco! We would be still more alone and afterward, I would pass the sentinels." " Eh ! Pardon ! " said Francisco. " I was absorbed in putting your supposed conversation with Senor Clayton in blank verse to present to AND THE VICEROY. 255 the Vice Roy. As a work of imagination, 'tis a masterpiece. I have called it ' The appeal of Innocence to Crime.' You are ' Crime ' senor. you will pardon the appelative shall I read it? " " Eh ! Francisco ! " said Inez, " read it to me, alone, in a few moments, but now eh, you under- stand see, we have not much time, it is nearly sunset. But how shall I find you? " " Eh ! Knock at the door and cry l Spain,' ' said Francisco. " Like this," he knocked at the door at the end of the gallery. It opened, a sentinel appeared. " Spain ! " said Francisco. The sentinel did not stir. " Spain ! " Again Francisco called the word, this time more loudly. " You blockhead, don't jab me with that bayonet, the word is ' Spain ' ! " The sentinel saluted. Francisco passed through the door which closed behind him. 256 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL CHAPTER VIII. HOW THE SPOKEN WORD LAUGHS AT LOCKSMITHS AND SENTINELS. "THE word! The word!" said Inez. "Go! Go!" Tom caught her meaning. " I should be recognized won't work ! " he answered. As he spoke, the sun seemed to dive, suddenly, below the mountains, leaving only a faint glow on the topmost peaks, that was faintly reflected in the room. "Here! Quickly!" said Inez, snatching up Francisco's cloak and hat from where he had dropped them when shaken by Maria. She put the cloak about Clayton, the hat on his head, standing on tiptoe to do so. " Try it, for the love of heaven ! " she said. AND THE VICEROY. 257 " It is dark ! There is a chance ! Tell II Libera- tor!" Tom thought a moment. To stay, meant cer- tain death for one of them, perhaps for both, for he would not confess and accept the Vice Roy's terms. To go, probably meant being shot by the first sentinel, but he would risk it. Folding Inez in his arms, he kissed her, then crossed the room to the iron door at the foot of the tower, while Inez silently prayed. The door, of course was fastened. Tom shook it violently. Komero appeared beyond the grating. Despite his promotion, he was still in charge of the prison and had come there at the close of the council, at the request of the Vice Roy, to make sure of the guards, for the Vice Roy, perhaps with rea- son, suspected everybody. "Ha! Francisco!" said he. "Will the Yankee confess? " He thought he was addressing Francisco. Slowly he unbolted the door. " The word, SeSor, as a matter of form ! " " Spain ! " muttered Tom, and dashed through the door. 258 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL " What a devil of a hurry ! " said Romero. Then he called to the guards " Here, you rascals, bring lights ! " He slowly came into the room, groping his way, for it was quite dark ; even the faint glow on the mountains had disappeared. Inez, listening, as she stood by the table, at which the Judges had recently been seated, heard door after door of the prison clang and continually, as they did so, growing fainter in the distance, the word " Spain." Two soldiers entered with candles. Romero perceived Inez. He also noticed that there was no one else in the room. " Ha ! " he said. " So you are still here ! Humph ! Your acquittal was a farce !" He approached the table, glancing around the room. " But where is the Yankee? " Inez silently pointed to the door at the head of the stairs. " Ah ! " said Romero, petulantly. " With the Vice Roy! Ah! I see he confessed and in- criminated you ! But why wasn't I called? " AND THE VICEROY. 259 Romero carried under his arm, a bundle. He placed it on the table and then came nearer the girl. She did not like the expression of his face and moved aside. " I was your slave once," said Romero. " Why remind me? " said Inez indifferently. "What is that?" She pointed at the bundle he had placed on the table. " Colored lights," said Romero shortly. " Red fire it will be burnt to show the city that the trial is ended when it is, and that some one is to die!" At the words, " colored lights," the girl's face took on a look of eagerness. " Eh ! You haven't long to live, little mis- tress," continued Romero. " It begins to seem long," said Inez, shrugging her shoulders. " It wouldn't hurt you to be good to Romero. Captain ha! I am Judge Advocate! I am as good as you now better ! Here roll me a cig- arette ! " He insolently held out his tobacco pouch, 2 6o THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL almost thrusting it in her face. She struck his hand aside the tobacco fell to the ground. " Pick up that tobacco ! " he growled. " Pick up that " In the face of the calm scorn of the girl's atti- tude, he could not control his voice, it sounded weak, faltering, uncertain. " Pah! Why can I not say it as you would? " He bent and gathered the tobacco together, then seemed to determine to assert himself. " Bah ! I will be Colonel, General Romero Dictator ! " He seated himself and frowned fiercely. "Will it please your excellency, said Inez to stop smoking; it is close in here?" Romero hesitatingly took the cigarette from his mouth. " At once ! " She stamped her foot. Romero threw away the cigarette. " Now take off your cap ! " Romero did so, then looked at her stupidly and clenched his hands. " Bah ! You corpse in an hour, that red AND THE VICEROY. 261 flare," he pointed to the light on table, " will tell the city of your condemnation." "Give it to me!" She spoke sharply. Romero handed it to her sulkily. She was very pale her eyes glittered. She spoke to the negro in a hollow tone of voice. " In an hour, Romero I may be a corpse and if I am, I shall walk be- hind you, Romero, everywhere that you walk. You cannot see me by turning round, for I shall always be behind your back ! " Romero shuddered and drew back. He was saturated with superstition, superstition in- stilled by many a wild tale, that had been told in his boyhood among the slaves. As he cowered away, Inez, keeping her eyes fixed on him as on a wild beast, seized one of the candles that sputtered and flickered in their holdings and approached it to the end of the colored light. As she did so, she continued talking, her tone se- pulchral, her step slow and measured, as she ad- vanced toward the archways. " You shall not see me by turning round, Ro- mero, for I shall always be behind your back, a corpse, Romero! A corpse-light on my fingers, 262 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL my clothes red from gunshot wounds, and the drops of blood will drip, drip, Romero, night after night, beside your bed ! " As she reached the last word, the red light flared up in the darkness of the arch, the negro gave a gurgle of horror. The next moment, he leaped toward her, his face blazing with anger, the spell broken, for, far out over the Vega, in answer to the blaze, appeared in the distance, a rocket and then another. " Curse you ! " he screamed. " There was a reason for that ! " Before he quite reached her, however, he stopped. His mouth opened in wonder for there sounded through the door, at the head of the stairs, the well-known voice of Francisco, speak- ing to some lady. " Eh ! Carramba ! I kiss your feet ! " In a moment, Romero understood the escape of Clayton. " Thunder of hell ! " he exclaimed. " Francisco there when he went out here? Was it the Yankee who went out I will throttle you ! " AND THE VICEROY. 263 Again he sprang toward her, murder in his look. "Who is captain of the prison guard?" said Inez. Romero stopped, as though suddenly frozen. The captain of the guard must answer with his life, it was the rule, for the escape of a prisoner. 264 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL CHAPTER IX. THE CONCLUSION. " MAKE way ! Make way ! The Vice Roy of the King ! " shouted the heralds. It was the Vice Roy and the spectators returning to continue the trial. Romero shrank back into a corner. Inez, quick as lightning flew up the stairs to the door. As it opened, she was concealed behind it ; as the people passed through, she quickly joined them, so that they thought she came from the room be- yond, with the others. " Bring the prisoner, Clayton ! " said the Vice Roy to Romero. " Why is he not here? " " He is in his cell," said Romero. I will bring him!" A wild thought passed through his mind, that AND THE VICEROY. 265 once out of the room, he would never return. But his intention was frustrated. " You ! The Judge Advocate ! " said the Vice Roy. " Send a sergeant ! " A sergeant left the room. " Is there a priest here? " said the Vic r Roy, as they waited for the sergeant's return. " The man or the woman, perhaps both, will soon need him." A priest advanced from the crowd. Again the Vice Roy spoke. "And Senorita Maria? She is not here! Doubtless she is in a cell. Bring her ! " The sergeant returned. " Senor Clayton is not in the prison, but I found the woman she is here ! " Two guards, as he spoke, entered with Maria. " Hell's flames ! " shouted the Vice Roy, beside himself with anger. "Has he escaped? Are you all traitors? What does this mean, Romero? You are responsible ! " " For the love of God," said Romero. " I was tricked deceived ! " " Eh ! I see," said the Vice Roy. " You, who were so eager to convict Inez to acquit this one " 266 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL he pointed to Maria. " And you had that paper at the Patio. You refused to sell it for a thou- sand pesatas; Judge Clayton took it from you; Inez got it from him. That paper alone has made me doubt. Carramba ! You and Senorita Maria shall be shot together! Eh! It is plain you stayed here in the prison; you suggested over- hearing the interview; you managed his escape; you burnt a red flare after he went! I saw it from the garden; I saw the rocket answering from the mountain! It is why we came so quickly had we not so returned, you would have escaped also ! God in heaven, what does it all mean? " The Vice Roy was almost a maniac. This was not the first time he had discovered, or thought he had discovered, trickery in his household. More- over, Judge Clayton had been talking the evi- dence over with him, during the afternoon and presenting fact after fact to strengthen the Vice Roy in the idea that Inez was innocent, and had pointed out, among other things, the circum- stance that from Romero he had obtained the list which he gave to Inez. AND THE VICEROY. 267 The Judge's intention had been to confuse the evidence against Tom and Inez, for he suspected that Tom could not confess without implicating her and this he knew his nephew would refuse to do. " Enough of trials," continued the Vice Roy. " Seize them both ! Place them against the tower shoot them as they stand, here, now ! " The soldiers seized Romero and Maria, bound their arms and placed them with their backs to the wall. " Eh ! Stop ! " cried Inez. " You surely will not shoot them here now ! Will you not wait wait till morning? Burn the red flare to inform the city ! " For she was anxious that the second signal that meant the whereabouts of the Vice Roy, should be burnt and hoped, by the delay, that the lives of Maria and Romero would be saved. " To-morrow is soon enough ! They will be dead long enough ! Eh ! Wait ! You have learnt nothing is not Maria to have the opportunity to confess?" But the Vice Roy would have none of it. While 268 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL he suspected Inez, no Roman could be sterner to- ward her. Convinced as he now was that she was innocent, no Roman could be more impla- cable in hunting down her accusers. " Eh ! My girl " he said, his face working strangely, " Eh ! Sefiors " he made a gesture toward his officers, " Eh ! Look at her ! " He pointed to Inez. " I am not ashamed of her. Eh ! I shall speak plainly she is my granddaughter and pah! They accused her and are traitors! I shall do my duty ! " His granddaughter! Inez felt the room whirl- ing about her. Why had she not known? But it was too late for any regrets. She must not let him, through her, make a mistake. " You shall do your duty," she said. " And you shall not shoot them for me ! They are innocent ! I am guilty ! " She swept them a courtesy and stood facing the Vice Roy. The Vice Roy looked at her as though he were turned to marble. Then his old grim, official expression settled upon his features like a mask. AND THE VICEROY. 269 " Eh ! I will do my duty ! Put her also against the wall ! Shoot her ! " But all Judge Clayton's chivalry was aroused. Envoy or not, any of his business or not, he would protest. " By God, you shall not shoot her. Your own Judges, on the evidence, declared her innocent! She is out of her head ! She is deranged ! What wonder? You have reprieved others reprieve her! Take time look into the matter! " " Eh ! Yes yes ! " The Vice Roy seemed a broken old man, the grim look changed to one of weakness. " Eh ! Yes, I have a chance. I can do with you as with others and obey the law. Confess, Inez, confess! Tell what you know of all this. What that list was whose the names upon it what this all means! All about SeSor Clayton, and you shall be reprieved. Eh! The king will pardon if you do. He does not know now your father's name. I concealed it to save your fortune, I can still conceal it to save your life!" He was fairly babbling. The audience did not 270 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL know him, but in a moment again, came a change. He was his old, severe, grim self again. "Bah! I am myself!" he exclaimed. "If you refuse, I myself will light this red flare and when I do," his face flickered for an instant, " ha ! I am Spanish Vice Roy when I do, shoot her as she stands ! " " Confess ! " said Inez. She was standing now with her back against the wall, from which Maria, who had fainted in the revulsion of feeling, had been removed. " I will confess, but I will not confess ! The soldiers of the Liberator's army will soon be here. They have threaded the jungle, climbed the moun- tains, descended to the plains. I told them how. They will enter the city, I told them where, not once, but many times by a bunch of flowers car- ried by a peon; by a song taught a wandering beggar ; by notes flung from my window ; by mes- sages innumerable, and I, alone, did this and not for myself, but for the murdered men, the tor- tured women, the little children! Soldiers and Senors and Sefioritas " she swept a courtesy "The Castles and the Lions have had their day ; it is time for the seven stars ! " AND THE VICEROY. 271 " my friends and my enemies, I did this, not for myself, but for you and your children, and this I will confess, but I will not confess anything of when they will come or how. Nor will I confess the name of one friend of the Revolution, no, not one! Torture me! I know your ways! I shall be the last one tortured! Shoot me! I shall be the last one shot ! The Castles and the Lions have had their day ; it is time for the seven stars ! " They stood listening, wondering, compelled by her voice and manner. " Shoot ! " said the Vice Roy, and he lit the flare. Men and women sank to their knees and began to pray. " Shoot ! " again cried the Vice Roy. The soldiers hesitatingly raised their muskets. There was a wild roar of voices outside the prison. " Hold ! " cried a voice that rang like a bugle. The muskets of the soldiers were lowered. Senoritas, senors, officers, prisoners, all turned, startled, toward the archway. In it stood a slight graceful figure in a long cloak ; behind him, Tom Clayton, swarming about them, rough look- 272 THE LIEUTENANT, THE GIRL. ing men, carrying muskets. A terrible cry rang through the room. It came from the Vice Roy. " My son ! Her father ! II Renegade ! II Lib- erator! God knows thank God you have come in time to save me from my duty to save her ! " And * II Liberator ' was the Vice Roy's son ! And Tom had hurried him to the city and after- ward married Inez! And Judge Clayton, and Maria, and Francisco, and Romero, and why and why " " Eh ! Seuor Mariana ! Manana ! I am tired it is an old story and I have talked long, and it all happened here long ago, under the Castles and the Lions of Spain ! Eh ! Jesu ! I remember, you yourself are from Kentucky! Eh! You would know! Bah! I have talked long enough, I am not used to telling stories. Eh! Carramba! 'Tis history ! And you are from Kentucky ! Eh ! Marvelous ! " THE END. THE ROMANCE OF A POET HIGHLAND MARY By CLAYTON MACKENZIE LEGGE The Sweetest Story Ever Told Re-Told in a New Way A novel of more than ordinary interest, portraying many important characters and telling for the first time in fiction the sweet love story of "Bobby Burns" and Highland Mary. ILLUSTRATED - CLOTH BOUND Price $1.50 THE C M. CLARK PUBLISHING CO. BOSTON, MASS. 999 The Belle of the Blueprass J o Country 9 * 9 By H. D. PITTMAN 41, This is a bit of real literature that should be in every library. It is a story of strong heart-interest with scenes laid in the picturesque state of Kentucky. It depicts, as no previous novel does, people and places in the famous "Blue Grass" state soon after the close of the Civil war. The "Belle" is one of the sweet- est, most lovable characters in modern fiction, and her little love story cannot but interest everyone. The reader fairly scents the waving grass, the fragrant flowers of old Kentucky. Bound In Cloth and Beautifully Illustrated with Photogravure and Frontispiece in Colon Price $1.50 AT ALL BOOKSELLERS OR SENT PREPAID BY The C. M. CLARK PUBLISHING CO. BOSTON, MASS. .-. AN ANSWER TO "THE LEOPARD'S SPOTS" .-. YARB CRETINE By DR. GEORGE B. H. SWAYZE A Story of the NeversrEnding Southern Problem of the Races HERE is action in this book from the very first line until the last ; there is also a deep, gen- uine heart interest, but greater than either ot these is an able treatise on the greatest of all modern problems the black man. Dr. Swayze takes a diametrically opposite view of the question from that of Rev. Thomas Dixon in "The Leopard's Spots." It is interesting to compare the books of these two men, the one a clergyman the other a physician. It would be quite natural to expect that the man of God would take a somewhat more gentle, more lenient view of the question than would the man of medicine, but the readers of *