An Eagle Flight Part 39

"What does all this mean?"

"That there is a conspiracy on foot which will be attributed to you. I have this moment been talking with a man hired to take part in it."

"Did he tell you who paid him?"

"He said it was you."

Ibarra stared in stupid amazement.

"Senor, you haven't a moment to lose. The plot is to be carried out to-night."

Crisostomo still gazed at Elias, as if he did not understand.

"I learned of it too late; I don't know the leaders; I can do nothing. Save yourself, senor!"

"Where can I go? I am due now at Captain Tiago's," said Ibarra, beginning to come out of his trance.

"To another pueblo, to Manila, anywhere! Destroy your papers! Fly, and await events!"

"And Maria Clara? No! Better die!"

Elias wrung his hands.

"Prepare for the accusation, at all events. Destroy your papers!"

"Aid me then," said Crisostomo, in almost helpless bewilderment. "They are in these cabinets. My father's letters might compromise me. You will know them by the addresses." And he tore open one drawer after another. Elias worked to better purpose, choosing here, rejecting there. Suddenly he stopped, his pupils dilated; he turned a paper over and over in his hand, then in a trembling voice he asked:

"Your family knew Don Pedro Eibarramendia?"

"He was my great-grandfather."

"Your great-grandfather?" repeated Elias, livid.

"Yes," said Ibarra mechanically, and totally un.o.bservant of Elias. "The name was too long; we cut it."

"Was he a Basque?" asked Elias slowly.

"Yes; but what ails you?" said Crisostomo, looking round and recoiling before the hard face and clenched fists of Elias.

"Do you know who Don Pedro Eibarramendia was? Don Pedro Eibarramendia was the wretch who caused all our misfortune! I have long been searching for his descendants; G.o.d has delivered you into my hands! Look at me! Do you think I have suffered? And you live, and you love, and have a fortune and a home; you live, you live!" and, beside himself, he ran toward a collection of arms on the wall. But no sooner had he reached down two poniards than he dropped them, looking blindly at Ibarra, who stood rigid.

"What was I going to do?" he said under his breath, and he fled like a madman.

XLVII.

THE CATASTROPHE.

Captain Tiago, Aunt Isabel, and Linares were dining. Maria Clara had said she was not hungry, and was at the piano with Sinang. The two girls had arranged this moment for meeting Ibarra away from too watchful eyes. The clock struck eight.

"He's coming! Listen!" cried the laughing Sinang.

He entered, white and sad. Maria Clara, in alarm, started toward him, but before any one could speak a fusilade sounded in the street; then random pistol shots, and cries and clamor. Crisostomo seemed glued to the floor. The diners came running in crying: "The tulisanes! The tulisanes!" Aunt Isabel fell on her knees half dead from fright, Captain Tiago was weeping. Some one rushed about fastening the windows. The tumult continued outside; then little by little there fell a dreadful silence. Presently the alferez was heard crying out as he ran through the street:

"Father Salvi! Father Salvi!"

"Mercy!" exclaimed Aunt Isabel. "The alferez is asking for confession!"

"The alferez is wounded!" murmured Linares, with an expression of the utmost relief.

"The tulisanes have killed the alferez! Maria, Sinang, into your chamber! Barricade the door!"

In spite of the protests of Aunt Isabel, Ibarra went out into the street. Everything seemed turning round and round him; his ears rang; he could scarcely move his limbs. Spots of blood, flashes of light and darkness alternated before his eyes. The streets were deserted, but the barracks were in confusion, and voices came from the tribunal, that of the alferez dominating all the others. Ibarra pa.s.sed unchallenged, and reached his home, where his servants were anxiously watching for him.

"Saddle me the best horse and go to bed," he said to them.

He entered his cabinet and began to pack a valise. He had put in his money and jewels and Maria's picture and was gathering up his papers when there came three resounding knocks at the house door.

"Open in the name of the King! Open or we force the door!" said an imperious voice. Ibarra armed himself and looked toward the window; then changed his mind, threw down his revolver, and went to the door. Three guards immediately seized him.

"I make you prisoner in the name of the King!" said the sergeant.

"Why?"

"You will learn at the tribunal; I am forbidden to talk with you."

"I am at your disposition. It will not be for, I suppose, long."

"If you promise not to try to escape us, we may leave your hands free; the alferez grants you that favor."

Crisostomo took his hat and followed the guards, leaving his servants in consternation.

Elias, after leaving the house of Ibarra, ran like a madman, not knowing whither. He crossed the fields and reached the wood. He was fleeing from men and their habitations; he was fleeing from light; the moon made him suffer. He buried himself in the mysterious silence of the wood. The birds stirred, wakened from their sleep; owls flew from branch to branch, screeching or looking at him with great, round eyes. Elias did not see or hear them; he thought he was followed by the irate shades of his ancestors. From every branch hung the bleeding head of Balat. At the foot of every tree he stumbled against the cold body of his grandmother; among the shadows swung the skeleton of his infamous grandfather; and the skeleton, the body, and the bleeding head cried out: "Coward! Coward!"

He ran on. He left the mountain and went down to the lake, moving feverishly along the sh.o.r.e; his wandering eyes became fixed upon a point on the tranquil surface, and there, surrounded by a silver nimbus and rocked by the tide, stood a shade which he seemed to recognize. Yes, that was her hair, so long and beautiful; yes, that was her breast, gaping from the poniard stroke. And the wretched man, kneeling in the sand, stretched out his arms to the cherished vision:

"Thou! Thou, too!" he cried.

His eyes fixed on the apparition, he rose, entered the water and descended the gentle slope of the beach. Already he was far from the bank; the waves lapped his waist; but he went on fascinated. The water reached his breast. Did he know it? Suddenly a volley tore the air; the night was so calm that the rifle shots sounded clear and sharp. He stopped, listened, came to himself; the shade vanished; the dream was gone. He perceived that he was in the lake, level with his eyes across the tranquil water he saw the lights in the poor cabins of fishermen. Everything came back to him. He made for the sh.o.r.e and went rapidly toward the pueblo.

San Diego was deserted; the houses were closed; even the dogs had hidden themselves. The glittering light that bathed everything detached the shadows boldly, making the solitude still more dreary.

Fearing to encounter the guards, Elias scaled fences and hedges, and so, making his way through the gardens, reached the home of Ibarra. The servants were around the door lamenting the arrest of their master. Elias learned what had happened, and made feint of going away, but returned to the back of the house, jumped the wall, climbed into a window and made his way to the laboratory. He saw the papers, the arms taken down, the bags of money and jewels, Maria's picture, and had a vision of Ibarra surprised by the soldiers. He meditated a moment and decided to bury the things of value in the garden. He gathered them up, went to the window, and saw gleaming in the moonlight the casques and bayonets of the guard. His plans were quickly laid. He hid about his person the money and jewels, and, after an instant's hesitation, the picture of Maria. Then, heaping all the papers in the middle of the room, he saturated them with oil from a lamp, threw the lighted candle in the midst, and sprang out of the window. It was none too soon: the guards were forcing entrance against the protests of the servants.

But dense smoke made its way through the house and tongues of flame began to break out. Soldiers and servants together cried fire and rushed toward the cabinet, but the flames had reached the chemicals, and their explosion drove every one back. The water the servants could bring was useless, and the house stood so apart that their cries brought no aid. The flames leaped upward amid great spirals of smoke; the house, long respected by the elements, was now their prisoner.