Swift and Sure Part 22

Followed along the street by an ever-growing crowd, mocking and jeering at the General, they came at length to the Town Hall. The Jefe was beyond measure amazed and delighted when he saw his prisoner.

"The President shall hear of this at once, senor," he said, shaking Will warmly by the hand. "It is you, senor, that are the Liberator of Venezuela, and your name will be honoured in the annals of my country.

You must tell me at leisure how you succeeded in capturing this notorious enemy of the State. I will at once issue invitations for a banquet."

"Pardon me, Excellency; as you perceive, I am not presentable."

The rough life of the past few days and his immersion had indeed given him a disreputable appearance.

"That is a trifle, senor," said the Jefe. "My own tailor shall provide you with garments within an hour or two. The whole city will be eager to hear your story, and I cannot be denied."

Will accepted his fate philosophically. The General was put into safe quarters in the city jail: a telegram was immediately sent to the President at Caracas, telling him the news and asking for instructions: and then the Jefe himself took Will to his tailor's, and gave orders that he should be becomingly arrayed. He would have done the same for Ruggles; but that worthy, at the first mention of a banquet, had quietly slipped away. He told Will next day that he couldn't trust himself at such a festivity.

"You see, they wouldn't have beer," he said, "and wine would bowl me over in no time. Besides, their champagne is filthy stuff."

There is no need to relate what happened at the Jefe's hospitable table.

Will was the hero of the hour, and supremely uncomfortable. It was very late before the party broke up, and it is a regrettable fact that the Jefe, when he took Will home as his guest for the night, talked a great deal of nonsense.

"Ah!" said Ruggles, when Will hinted at this next day, "there's nothing keeps a man so safe as having two pounds a week and no more."

In the morning an order came from the President that General Carabano should be immediately sent to Caracas. He gave at the same time a cordial invitation to Senor Pentelow to visit him. This Will promptly and gratefully declined by telegraph. He had had a conversation with the Jefe. It appeared that a few days before, scouts had reported that Colonel Orellana's force had broken up. No doubt news of General Carabano's abduction had reached them, and they recognized that the revolution had fizzled out. Being relieved of further anxiety on this score, the Jefe readily acceded to Will's request that he would send a small force by steamer up the Orinoco, in order to effect the release of the prisoners. General Carabano's hacienda was about a hundred miles from the junction, and remote from the railway. It could best be reached by ascending the tributary until it ceased to be navigable, a few miles beyond De Mello's hacienda, and then by riding across country.

The journey would be too hazardous for Will and Ruggles to attempt alone while Captain Espejo still had any force at command; but a small party under Colonel Blanco could no doubt easily dispose of them, and then the way would be open.

Accordingly a steamer left Bolivar at ten o'clock, carrying Colonel Blanco and fifty well-armed men, together with the two Englishmen and their native helpers. Will had not forgotten to have Azito's arm properly attended to by a surgeon, nor to buy a good supply of petrol.

The hydroplane was towed. With some difficulty Will had persuaded the doctor to accompany the expedition in order to a.s.sist the men who had been injured when the train was thrown off the rails. The doctor was doubtful of getting his fees.

At the junction Colonel Blanco disembarked with Will and some of his officers to view the scene of the smash. Engine and trucks lay, of course, where they had fallen, with broken rifles and other evidences of the catastrophe. Steaming along the river again, they came to a halt where there was no longer sufficient draught for the vessel, and marched over the few miles to the hacienda. Here they found all the rooms occupied by a score of injured men, attended only by Indians. They had been brought in a few hours before, after a terrible night in the woods.

Captain Espejo was one of the most seriously injured, as was only to be expected from his perilous position on the cab of the engine. All the men who were able to ride had decamped. Colonel Blanco was much interested in seeing the hole in the stable wall by which Will had escaped, and the room where General Carabano was captured.

Next morning Will and Ruggles set off on horseback with a dozen of the Colonel's men, under Azito's guidance, for the General's hacienda. It was a long and fatiguing journey, through woods, across streams, now on bare rock, now in swamp whose squelching ground covered the horses'

fetlocks. When they arrived at the precipice where Ruggles had escaped, nothing would satisfy him but to halt and scratch his initials on the cliff.

"Just like a tripper," said Will, laughing.

"Well, as your name is to be written in full in the State records, you won't grudge me my simple initials on the rock," replied Ruggles. "And I shouldn't wonder if they last longer."

They had ridden but a few miles farther when Azito pointed to the right, and declared that he had seen three hors.e.m.e.n coming towards them.

n.o.body else could distinguish the figures. Colonel Blanco decided to halt in a clump of trees until the strangers came up. Will thought they might bring news of the prisoners, or that two of them might be the prisoners themselves; but Azito said they were coming from the wrong direction.

In twenty minutes the three riders came clearly into view. Then Will saw that one of them was Antonio de Mello. The others were strangers to him. He went out to meet them.

"Hallo, old chap!" said De Mello. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm going to pay a visit to General Carabano's hacienda."

De Mello laughed.

"What is this I hear about the Liberator?" he said. "My Indians--I have had spies at my place all along--told me that he was abducted in the middle of the night. Is it true?"

"Perfectly," said Will. "Your place is just now a hospital."

"What! Has there been a fight?" asked De Mello, grimacing.

"No: a smash on the line. I suppose you are on your way there?"

"Yes. With Carabano gone I thought I might venture back to my own, and two friends accompanied me to see fair play." He introduced the strangers. "But why are you going to the General's house?"

"To release a couple of friends of mine. Didn't your Indian tell you what happened to us?"

"They told me a great deal that I didn't believe. What's the truth of the matter?"

"It's a long story, and if you don't mind I'll keep it till I get back.

Colonel Blanco is waiting in the wood yonder, and we want to get to Las Piedras before night."

"Colonel Blanco! The revolution is broken, then?"

"Smashed."

"That's good news. I hope they haven't damaged my stables."

"No, your stables are all right," said Will with a laugh, wondering at his friend's strange lack of patriotism. "No Englishman," he thought, "would think first of his stables." Was he right?

Having been introduced to Colonel Blanco, De Mello rode on with his friends towards his hacienda. The others resumed their journey in the opposite direction.

It was getting dark when they reached General Carabano's estate. The house was lit up. Pa.s.sing the window of the dining-room, and looking in, they saw the Chief and O'Connor seated at table with half-a-dozen Venezuelans. They were talking cheerfully, and seemed to be in the best of spirits. Hearing the jingle of bridles, the whole party started up and came to the window. The Venezuelans looked alarmed.

"How are you, Chief?" Will called through the window.

"It's the boy!" cried Mr. Jackson. "It's all right, O'Connor. Come in, Pentelow; you'll find the door open. Who've you got with you?"

"Colonel Blanco, of the State army."

He entered the house with Ruggles and the Colonel.

"You don't look much like prisoners," said Will, laughing.

"Prisoners? We're gentlemen at large. We've heard all about it. A messenger came up the day after the General disappeared, and we guessed you were at the bottom of it. These gentlemen here offered to escort us to Bolivar, but it's two hundred miles and a trying journey; and as we're living on the fat of the land and having a better time than we've had for months, we decided to stay here until we got word of you."

"But I don't understand," said Will. "Aren't these gentlemen revolutionists?"

"No longer, my boy. They threw over the General at once, and are now the loyalest citizens of the Republic. That's revolution in Venezuela."

Colonel Blanco was chatting very amiably to the Venezuelans. It was all very amazing to Will, whose knowledge of the revolutions of history included recollections of bitter enmity, murderous pa.s.sions, proscriptions, ma.s.sacres.

He told the whole story, to which his friends listened with as much amus.e.m.e.nt as surprise. O'Connor sighed because he had not been with Will in the race with the train, but the Chief looked grave when he heard of the smash on the line.

"We'll get no compensation," he said. "However, all's well that ends well. We shall no doubt get the line finished before the next revolution."

Next day they all returned to railhead. Already the scattered peons were flocking back, and in the course of a week work was in full swing again.