The Dust of Conflict Part 18

"There is no key, and one of us must stay here," he said. "Now, if I could have found the little Tomasa we should have had a flask of wine.

There is plenty here to-night."

The other man glanced up at the lighted windows, and Appleby, who slipped back out of sight into the shadow, saw that he was white with dust, and surmised that he was correspondingly thirsty.

"There will be no chance of that when we have told the Alcalde," he said. "It is a misfortune. The wine would have been welcome."

They looked at each other, and then back at the closed door. "That man can scarcely hobble, and his hands are tied," said one. "Go back and rattle at the lock, and he will think it is the key. Then if you are quick you may find Tomasa while I tell the Alcalde."

The soldier went back and did something to the lock with his bayonet, and then made a sign to his comrade, who went up the stairway. Then he disappeared through a door which apparently led to the kitchen, and Appleby, treading softly, slipped forward through the shadows. There was n.o.body in the patio now, and the streets were silent, while it only took him a moment or two to reach the door. In another he had slashed the man's bonds through, and a ragged object glided silently across the patio. Appleby stood still a few seconds with beating heart until the swiftly moving shadow vanished through the arch, and then went up the stairway in haste, but as softly as he could. He, however, stopped suddenly when he reached the veranda, for Nettie Harding was leaning over the bal.u.s.trade, and the banker's wife sitting in a cane chair behind her. She saw the question in his eyes and nodded.

"Yes," she said, "I saw you. The Senora Frequilla saw nothing. She is half asleep. Why did you do it?"

"He would have been shot to-morrow," said Appleby.

The girl laid her hand upon his arm, and led him into the lighted room, where, as it happened, a dance was just commencing. They took their places among the rest, and nothing unusual happened for several minutes.

Then there was a shout from the patio and a tramp of feet, and the dancing ceased. Asking vague questions, the guests streamed down the stairway, and when Appleby and Nettie Harding, who followed, stopped among the rest at a turning Morales was standing in the patio very grim in face beside the Alcalde, with two dusty and evidently very apprehensive cazadores before him.

"To the cuartel, and tell the Sergeant Antonio to turn out ten men at once. I will consider your reward to-morrow," he said, and turned to the Alcalde. "It would be well, senor, if you sent word to the civiles."

Then he smiled at the guests, who made room for him as he approached the stairway and stopped close by Appleby, who felt the girl's hand tremble a little on his arm.

"I am sorry that you should be disturbed by this affair," he said; and Appleby wondered whether it was altogether by chance that the officer's glance was turned in his direction.

"Two of my men have allowed an Insurgent to escape them, for which they will be rewarded. It is, however, evident that he had a friend who cut his bonds, and when we find him that man will also be duly compensated."

The little vindictive flash in the dark eyes was very significant, and one or two of the guests, Loyalists as they were, moved rather further out of Morales' way than was necessary as he went back up the stairway.

XII - PANCHO'S WARNING

A WEEK had pa.s.sed since the Alcalde's ball, when Appleby awakened late one night from a restless sleep at the hacienda San Cristoval. He had shut the lattices of his window because the moonlight streamed in, and it is not advisable for white men to sleep under that pale radiance in the tropics; and the room was almost insufferably hot, which Appleby surmised was the cause of his awakening. He was, however, anxious to get to sleep again, for his post was no sinecure, and he usually rose in the early morning.

Cuba was in a very unsettled state just then, steeped in intrigue and overrun with spies, while among Loyalists and Insurgents alike faction plotted against faction. Both were divided by internecine jealousies, and the mixed population of native-born Cubans of Iberian blood, Spaniards from the Peninsular and the Canaries, Chinamen, negroes, and mulattoes, appeared incapable of cohesion. Stability of purpose is not a prominent characteristic of the Latins, and while the country drifted in discord towards anarchy, a similar state of affairs existed on a smaller scale at the hacienda San Cristoval. The men who by the favor of the military rulers were allowed to take Harding's pay apparently disdained continuous effort, and desisted from it to discuss politics on every opportunity; while knives were not infrequently drawn in defence of their somewhat variable convictions.

It was with annoyance he found he could not sleep, and resigned himself to pa.s.s the weary hours waiting for daylight as he had frequently done before. The perspiration dripped from him, and there was a pain in his joints, for the insidious malarial fever he had contracted in the swamps troubled him now and then, and finding no relief in any change of posture lay rigidly still. A mosquito hovered about him with a thin, persistent droning-and one mosquito is occasionally sufficient to drive a sleepless man to frenzy-but the building was very silent. Appleby could see the faint gleam of moonlight deflected by the lattice on the floor, but the rest of the room was wrapped in inky blackness. He was glad of that for there was a dull ache at the back of his eyes, which he surmised was the result of standing for most of twelve hours in the glare of the whitewashed sheds the previous day. By and by, however, the dead stillness which the droning of the mosquito emphasized grew oppressive, and he found himself listening with a curious intentness for any sound that would break it. He did not know why he did so, but he obeyed the impulse with a vague feeling that watchfulness was advisable.

Five minutes pa.s.sed, as it were, interminably, while he only heard the strident ticking of the watch beneath his pillow, and then the stairway leading to the veranda outside his window creaked softly. That was nothing unusual, for the timber not infrequently groaned and cracked under the change of temperature in the stillness of the night; but there was something that stirred Appleby's suspicions in the sound, and he raised himself softly when he heard it again. The room he slept in opened into a larger one, which Harding had fitted up as an office, where the safe was kept, but the door between it and the veranda was barred, and Appleby had himself made fast the lattice of the window.

He could hear nothing further for a s.p.a.ce, and was annoyed to feel the hand he laid on the pillow trembling and his hair wet with perspiration.

Then it was with difficulty he checked a gasp, for the door handle seemed to rattle, and the bolt of the lock slid home with a soft click.

The smooth sound was very suggestive, for Appleby had found the lock stiff and hard to move. Somebody had apparently oiled it surrept.i.tiously, and it was evident that he would not have done so without a purpose. For a moment he was almost dismayed. He was shut in, and there were a good many pesetas in Harding's safe; but the unpleasant nervous strain he had hitherto been sensible of had gone and left him with faculties sharpened by anger. Then an inspiration dawned on him, and his lips set in a little grim smile. The Latin has usually no great regard for trifles, and it was not very astonishing that the man who oiled and locked the door had overlooked the fact that the lattice was fastened within.

Appleby was out of bed in a moment, and moving with silent deliberation, slipped a duck jacket over his pajamas and softly pulled out a bureau drawer. Here, however, he had another astonishment, for the pistol he kept under his clothing had gone, and he stood still a moment reflecting with the collectedness which usually characterized him in an emergency.

Harper slept in a distant wing of the building; the major-domo, or house steward, in a room by the kitchen across the patio; and he could not waken either without giving a general alarm, which did not appear advisable. Appleby had no great confidence in any of his retainers, and considered it likely that some of them were in the plot, and would in all probability contrive the escape of the prowler in the confusion. He must, it seemed, see the affair through alone, and, what was more to the purpose, unarmed. Then he remembered the bar which, when dropped into two sockets, locked the two halves of the lattice, and treading softly made for the window. It was quite certain now that somebody was moving about the adjoining room.

The lattice swung open with scarcely a sound, and if Appleby made any noise crawling through the opening the intruder apparently did not hear him. In another few moments he had gained the adjoining door which stood just ajar, and dimly saw the black figure of a man who held a small lantern bending over the American office bureau. This astonished Appleby, who had expected the iron safe beside it would have claimed his attention.

He pushed the door a little farther open, and stood close against it with his fingers tightening on the bar, while the man whose face he could not see flung several bundles of doc.u.ments out of a drawer, and held them near the lantern, as though he would read the endors.e.m.e.nts upon them, which Appleby remembered were in English. He had, however, apparently no difficulty in understanding them, for he took up each bundle and glanced at it before he laid it down, and then, pulling the drawer out, thrust his hand into the opening.

Appleby started as he watched him, for that drawer was shorter than the rest, and there was a hidden receptacle behind it. It was difficult for any one to remain impartially neutral in Cuba just then, and Appleby had surmised already that Harding only retained his footing there by the exercise of skilful diplomacy, while communications reached him now and then which he showed to n.o.body. He had, however, taken the contents of the receptacle away with him.

It was a very slight movement that Appleby made, but the door he leaned against creaked, and the man swung sharply round. Perhaps he was afraid of the light of the lantern being seen from the windows opposite, for he did not raise it, but stood still, apparently glancing about him, while Appleby waited motionless with every nerve in his body tingling. It seemed to him that there was a faint sound behind him on the stairway.

He fancied the almost intolerable tension lasted for nearly a minute, and then the man, who failed to see him, turned again with a little half-audible e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n, and opening another drawer bent over it with his back to Appleby, who moved silently in his direction. He made two strides and stopped, with his fingers quivering on the bar; but the man was still stooping over the drawer, and he made another stride and stopped again. He could almost reach the stranger with the bar, but remembering the Cuban's quickness with the steel he decided it would be advisable to make quite certain.

A board creaked as he made the next step, the man swung round again, and there was a pale flash in the light of the lantern as he sprang backwards. He was on the opposite side of the bureau and out of reach when Appleby swung up the bar, but the latter, who recognized the fact, stood between him and the door. They stood still for what seemed an interminable s.p.a.ce in the black darkness, for the faint blink of light from the lantern was cut off by the displaced drawer, and then Appleby moved a foot or two as the dim shadowy figure, which he fancied had drawn itself together, sidled round the bureau. He surmised that his adversary was bracing himself for a spring, and knew that unless he met it with the bar he would be at the mercy of the steel. Still, he meant at any cost to hold the position that commanded the door.

The two stopped again, a trifle nearer each other, and Appleby felt his right arm tingle. Still, a rash move would probably prove fatal, and he remembered even then that because silent endurance is not a characteristic of the Latins his adversary was the more likely to yield beneath the strain and do something that would equalize the advantage his skill with the knife conferred upon him. The man with colder blood could wait. He, however, found it sufficiently hara.s.sing, for in the meanwhile he could feel in fancy the sting of the knife, and remembered with unpleasant distinctness the feinting play with the steel he had now and then seen his peons indulge in. One thrust, he fancied, would suffice, for the Cuban knows just how and where to strike. He could feel his heart beating, and the perspiration streaming down his face.

Then the door behind him was flung wide open, a blink of light flashed into the room and shone upon an olive-tinted face; while, when Appleby, uncertain what this boded, swung up the bar to force an issue, the man flung down a knife.

"Carramba!" he said hoa.r.s.ely. "It is too unequal."

Appleby glanced over his shoulder, and saw Pancho, his major-domo, standing half dressed not far behind him with a lantern and a big machete in his hand. He stooped, picked up the knife, and with a flick of his fingers slid it into his sleeve. Then he held the lantern higher, and Appleby recognized his adversary as a weight clerk in the sugar mill. He blinked with his eyes, and the damp dripped from his face, which showed haggard and drawn; but Appleby, who wondered if his own wore that look, surmised that this was not due to cowardice, and understood why the man breathed in gasps.

"Leave the light, and go for the Senor Harper, Pancho," he said, and his voice sounded curiously harsh and uneven.

The major-domo, however, shook his head. "With permission, I will stay here, senor," he said. "Ask him what he has come for."

The other man sat down somewhat limply on the table and essayed to laugh. "The question is not necessary, Don Pancho," he said. "One has always a use for silver."

Appleby glanced at the safe, which had not been tampered with, and fancied as he did so that Pancho made a sign to him.

"You were looking for it in a curious place," he said. "One does not keep silver loose in a drawer. At least, not in Cuba. It would be better if you told us plainly what brought you here."

"To what purpose, when you do not believe me?" said the man, with an attempt at tranquillity. "Still, the Senor Harding is only liberal to his countrymen; and I have been unfortunate at the Casino."

Appleby saw the major-domo's smile of incredulity, and felt a mild astonishment at the fact that he was quietly arguing with a man who would, he knew, have killed him without compunction a few minutes earlier had the opportunity been afforded him.

"Well," he said a trifle impatiently, "you can explain it to the Alcalde. Will you go for the Senor Harper, and unlock the cellar next the stables as you come back, Pancho? He would be safe there until to- morrow."

The major-domo shook his head. "It would be better if you let him go,"

he said. "The law is troublesome and expensive in this country."

Appleby, who was already aware of this, reflected. He knew the insecurity of his own position, and Harding had warned him especially to keep clear of any complications with the officials; while he had confidence in Pancho and recognized the significance of his tone. Still, he was unwilling to let their captive go scot-free and gazed at him steadily.

The man, who met his gaze, smiled a little. "It is good advice Don Pancho has given you. I tell you so with all sincerity."

"Well," said Appleby, "you can go, but you will not get off so easily if you ever come back again. Still, I want the pistol you stole from me."

The man raised his shoulders. "It is an unpleasant word, senor, and you will find the pistol in the drawer beneath the one where you usually keep it. It is too noisy a weapon to be much esteemed in Cuba. Still, to requite a courtesy, you will take a hint from me. When a man is in charge of a good many pesetas it is not wise of him to keep his pistol in a drawer."

He slipped down from the table, asked Pancho for his knife, and took off his hat with grave politeness when it was handed him. Then he went down the stairway, and sitting down at the foot of it apparently put his shoes on before he strode away along the tram-line. Appleby laid his hand on the major-domo's shoulder.

"You came opportunely, comrade," he said. "I am grateful."