Prisoners of Chance Part 29

I scarcely know what I hoped to accomplish by such a move, yet helpful circ.u.mstances are apt to develop when one attempts boldly to do his own part the best he may. It was in blind faith I crept forward through the dry gra.s.s, drawing ever closer toward that beckoning light. It was a long journey and a slow one, as the tribe would guard vigilantly the dwelling-place of their Queen. At every rustle in the gra.s.s, every flap of wing overhead, I paused, listening to the pounding of my heart.

I clasped closely in one hand the knife, my sole weapon of defence, and, as my eyes became accustomed to the gloom and could distinguish some things more clearly, I paused often, with uplifted head, to study some indistinct object in the darkness. Thus advancing inch by inch, avoiding with care the least rustling of dry gra.s.s, I wriggled snake-like forward, until I began breasting the steeper incline of the mound, its summit now outlined against the lighter s.p.a.ce of overarching sky.

All my rage deserted me when again in the open, actually attempting to achieve a purpose. My brain cleared as by magic, every nerve steadying itself to meet whatsoever peril might be lurking along the path.

Half-way up the mound I lay close to the earth, peering steadily through the gloom. There was no cover to crouch behind, the slope being totally bare of vegetation except for the short, dry gra.s.s, yet I felt reasonably secure from observation unless I entered that bar of light. Unable to do more than guess, I concluded that the single flame, splitting the night like the shining blade of a sword, came from the northern compartment, while the southern half remained wrapped in silent darkness. Outwardly this Queen's residence was constructed much like the building used by the priests as a temple. In the latter I recalled two entrances opening respectively toward east and west. Were a part.i.tion run between, as in this private dwelling, the eastern door would open into the southern apartment. It was the west door through which the light streamed, and, daring approach it no closer, my only recourse lay in trying my fortune on the opposite side.

I began a winding advance along the sloping side of the hill, but sank suddenly to earth as a spectral figure moved forth from the darkness, stood a moment in the bright glare, and then strode past, vanishing within the gloom like a shadow. It was an Indian, spear in hand, one of the body-guard of the Queen. With renewed caution, my imminent danger being manifest, I barely lifted my head from the level of the gra.s.s, and began to work onward, reaching out until I got firm grasp on a bunch of gra.s.s, then drawing my body forward the full extent of my arms. The progress was slow, involving much labor, and it required a full half-hour to attain the other side of the mound. I could now look above, perceiving nothing except the black shadow of the house. If Eloise was within, and if this door led to her prison, it was scarcely possible that it was unguarded. Naladi had special reasons for looking carefully after the safe keeping of this captive, and was not likely to forget. I discovered no outward signs of life, but was too thoroughly versed in wilderness ways to count upon that, knowing that each dark shadow along the wall might conceal some crouching stealthy figure, ready to pounce forth. With utmost care, anxiously scanning the silent hillside, I drew myself forward, hardly venturing upon a full breath, until I finally rested on my breast barely three paces from where I believed the entrance must be.

I dreaded any attempt to advance into the unknown, yet I had no intention of withdrawing until I had accomplished that end for which I came. To retreat was foreign to my nature; indeed, I was now so close to Eloise, it required an effort of will to restrain a desire to rush blindly forward. But long training overcame this rash impulse. I rested there, silent as a savage, seeking to trace each detail of what was barely beyond my hand. It was little enough I could distinguish, straining my eyes to the utmost; and finally, despairing of learning more, I advanced my hands, silently groping for something to grasp, when I was instantly frozen into a rec.u.mbent statue by a slight movement of something directly in front. This was so faint that, had not my every nerve been tense, I should scarcely have noted it at all.

Yet there could be no doubt--some one had given a slight shiver, as though from the chill of the night air; whoever it might be, the person was not three paces from my out-stretched hands, and, as near as I could judge, must be sitting on the very threshold of the entrance.

I was in an awkward position. How I had succeeded in arriving there without attracting attention was little short of miraculous. I durst not venture on any retrograde movement; I even pressed my mouth against the hard earth, the better to deaden the sound of breathing. I know not how long I remained thus; it was until my strained muscles appeared to cord themselves, and I could scarcely keep back a moan of pain. Yet no other sound came from that mysterious presence. Intently as I listened, not so much as the faint sound of breathing reached me.

Still I could not have been deceived; there a.s.suredly had been movement; I distinctly felt a consciousness of other presence, so that every nerve tingled, and it required the utmost self-control to hold me still. I fairly throbbed with insane impulses to leap forward and solve the mystery.

Who could be lurking there in such silence? It must a.s.suredly be an enemy, a guard stationed to watch over the fair prisoner within; doubtless, he would remain until relieved by some other. What hope for successful advance held me in such agony of mind and body? I felt that I must relieve my cramped limbs or else scream aloud in spite of every effort at control. Slowly I drew back, my outspread hands searching for some hummock of gra.s.s against which I might press, to force my body silently downward, but discovered none. Then there sounded, slightly to my left, the soft rustle of a moccasoned foot, and a low, guttural voice muttered some indistinct sentences. The lurking form in my front appeared to rise, and there was a brief grunt as if in response to command. Then a huge warrior stalked past so close that his moccasoned foot planted itself fairly between my outstretched arms. Instantly he faded away within the enveloping gloom, and with hardly the hesitation of a moment I was on hands and knees creeping toward my goal. With groping fingers I touched the riven trunk that formed the threshold, and, reaching upward, noted with a thrill of delight that merely a heavy curtain of woven straw guarded the interior. There was no time for hesitancy; at any instant the savage guard might return to his deserted post. Pushing the slight barrier noiselessly aside, I gained the interior, dropped the mat behind me, and, for the first time, ventured to pause and survey my surroundings.

The single part.i.tion did not extend to the roof by a foot or more, so sufficient light found pa.s.sage through the narrow aperture to render dimly visible the princ.i.p.al features of this apartment into which I had ventured. It was evidently a sleeping-chamber, handsomely furnished in barbaric fashion, the faint light gleaming on numerous burnished ornaments, while a carpet of soft skins concealed the floor. To this I gave brief attention, my anxious glance falling almost instantly upon the draped figure of a woman, vaguely defined in the dimness, lying outstretched on a slightly raised cushioned couch, her face concealed by the denser shadows of the wall, sound asleep.

Cautiously I crept forward, hesitating to touch her lest so sudden an awakening might cause alarm. It seemed safer to trust in speech, as then she would recognize at once who was by her side.

"Madame," I whispered softly, my lips as close as possible to her tiny ear, "I seek brief word with you to-night."

She must have slept lightly, for at my faint whisper I perceived that her wide-opened eyes were scrutinizing my face.

"'Tis I, Madame, Geoffrey Benteen. I beg you make no noise."

"You need have no fear," returned a soft voice in purest Spanish. "You do me honor by so unexpected a visit; I bid you welcome, Geoffrey Benteen."

CHAPTER XXVIII

SPEECH WITH NALADI

If you were ever rudely aroused from pleasant dreams by a sudden dash of cold water in your face, you may partially comprehend my emotions upon hearing these words of greeting, and realizing that I was looking into the beautiful, pitiless eyes of the Daughter of the Sun, now sitting upright on the couch, happily smiling at my embarra.s.sment.

"Nay, Geoffrey Benteen," she exclaimed, significantly waving her white hand as she noted my swift glance backward, "retire not thus suddenly.

You must be a marvellous woodsman to have attained this place through the watchful cordon of my guards, but 'tis not likely you would so safely run the gantlet of return. You are not so fair of visage as your gay companion the Chevalier, yet now you are here I will enjoy a short time with you. Yet first let us understand each other. For what purpose do you invade my apartment so boldly?"

"I came," I replied, believing frankness would prove my best play in this crisis, "expecting to find not you, but your prisoner."

"Ah! you are honest, if not complimentary," a quick flash of understanding in her bright eyes. "So it was another woman for whose sake you came creeping recklessly through the night! G.o.d's mercy! I even ventured to dream my charms had pierced the dull armor of your cold English heart, yet here you merely stand and laugh at me,--would even flee my presence as though pestilence were upon my breath. Why, I wonder? am I not also fair? Why then flout me thus disdainfully?

Naladi has not been accustomed to such harsh treatment at the hands of your s.e.x."

"You are, indeed, beautiful both in form and face," I answered, seeking to avoid quarrel, "but it is not for a mere adventurer of the woods to utter words of love to such as you."

Her lips curled in sarcastic smile.

"Pish! you grow marvellously modest all at once. I bid you note that the pa.s.sion of love cares nothing for a registry of birth--it looks to flesh and blood, not records. There is more hidden in your secret heart to-night than finds utterance upon the lips. You have the soft speech of a diplomat, full of guile and cunning. Come, I bid you tell me the whole truth. Do you think me an untutored savage, that you deny me in such disdain?"

"I know not how it may prove regarding your heart," I said boldly, not hesitating to meet her questioning eyes, "but in manner and graces you exhibit the gloss of courts."

She smiled mockingly, rising to her feet and saluting me with a low curtsy.

"Ah! very prettily said, senor. I perceive your objection then: you think me fairer without than within. I dare not contend you are altogether wrong in such conjecture. Faith, why not, senor? It would be strange otherwise. All lives do not flow gently amid prosaic routine, and my ship has been often enough upon the rocks. I have learned reasons of deceit and cruelty in the hard school of experience.

If, in years of trial, I have grown hard of judgment, reckless of action, it is because others have been harsh with me. Power is naturally tyrannical. But then what use for us to dwell upon the past?

So you came to-night to meet another? 'T is strange the risks a man will run for so infinitesimal a reward. Yet, Mother of G.o.d, it gives me a pleasant tale to pour into the ears of him you call De Noyan when we meet again to-morrow. If I mistake not, the one you seek in secret bears the name of that gay gallant. At least, she masquerades in this wilderness under the t.i.tle of Madame de Noyan. But 'tis you, not he, her reputed husband, forsooth, who seeks her chamber in the midnight.

Truly 'tis a pretty tale of romance."

It flashed upon me, as she thus lightly spoke, what infernal use an unscrupulous woman might easily make of this. The imputation lurking in her words aroused me to defiant anger, yet before I could collect my thought to make reply, she marked my hesitancy and continued with bitter sarcasm.

"Madame possesses so sweetly innocent a face I should never have suspected her of being an immodest wanton, were it not for the evidence of my own eyes. 'T is a strange world, senor. Yet I have often heard this is the way with these _grandes dames_ of France."

"It is only your own foulness of thought which places such construction upon my coming here," I broke forth, determined I would face her down at every hazard. "You know well my purpose; I came seeking to aid one you held prisoner. It is all because of your sin, not ours. You have robbed this Chevalier de Noyan of all his manhood by your cursed smiles and honeyed speech. You have made him forget his sworn duty unto her who is his wife."

"How interesting you grow," she interrupted, her lips curling, her eyes hardening. "Senor, you grow almost handsome when your eyes flash. So you felt called upon to devote yourself to this poor, misused, neglected wife? I trust you have not found it an unpleasant service, or entirely without reward?"

"I felt called upon to aid her in escaping from your grip."

"Ah, indeed? Would you kindly, senor, tell me how you proposed performing such a miracle? It remains in my memory some such effort at release has been made before," her eyes hardening like diamonds. "Down yonder stands a blackened post which tells how Naladi deals with those daring to mock her will."

"You may spare threats," I retorted, gathering courage from rising anger, "as I care nothing for your good will, nor shall I swerve an inch in the hope of escaping your savage vengeance. Madame de Noyan is so far above you in every attribute of unsullied womanhood that no words of yours can ever besmirch her reputation; while, as to myself, I remain so certain of my own rect.i.tude in the action of this night, I challenge you to do your worst."

"No doubt the Chevalier will also feel confidence in all you say," she added maliciously. "I understand it is the way with the French."

"With whom your previous acquaintance seems to have rendered you most familiar."

It was a wild, chance shot, for firing which I had no reason excepting that twice she had openly sneered at that people, and once had spoken of ships in a way strange to an inland savage. It was worth trying, however, and I marked her slight start of surprise at my insinuating tone, and the dark shadow sweeping across her face.

"Think you so, senor? It is pa.s.sing strange, then, that I should be ignorant of the tongue."

"Yes, were it true," I made quick reply, encouraged by her manner, determined now to press this guessing home, and abide results. "But you had small difficulty comprehending the language a moment back.

Permit me to remind you that it chanced to be French I spoke when first kneeling at your bedside."

She savagely bit her red lips in rage at my words; yet more, I thought, at her own forgetfulness.

"Pish! perhaps so;" and she stamped her foot angrily on the stone slabs of the floor. "What does that prove to my discredit for you to harp upon?"

Why my accidental words should thus worry her I could not even guess.

Yet, clearly enough, there lay hidden some secret here--a hideous secret I had harshly probed. Believing this, I felt that I could enhance my power over her by pressing it relentlessly home with whatsoever directness of speech I dared to venture. With me, at such a crisis, decision meant action, and I advanced a step nearer, looking her directly in the eyes. A single moment she met me with a haughty stare; then defiance faded away into pleading, and her glance wavered.

Whatever the cause, she was clearly afraid.

"Who--who are you?" she faltered. "Surely we have never met before?"

"As you know already, I am Geoffrey Benteen. I only regret that your memory is so faulty."

"What is it you know of me?"