The Dust of Conflict Part 42

"It's the fellow I hove over the bal.u.s.trade at the cafe," he said.

"You've got no use for that pistol, senor."

There was a bright flash, and a flake of plaster fell from the wall close behind Appleby's shoulder, but even as the brown fingers tightened on the trigger again Harper gripped the young officer. He hove him bodily off his feet, and there was a yell from the Sin Verguenza as he flung him upon the grizzled sergeant. The man staggered, and the pair went down heavily in the corner. Then Harper, who tore one of his comrade's rifles away from him, stood in front of them.

"I guess you had better keep moving in case the rest light out," he said.

There was an angry murmur, and though some of the men had already swept through the room the rest stared at Harper, who grinned at them.

"Well," he said, "it's not your fault you're not Americans. Rustle. Hay prisa. Adelante! Tell them I'll put this contract through, Appleby."

Those of the Sin Verguenza who had remained appeared a trifle undecided, until Appleby, who had no desire to witness a purposeless piece of butchery, joined his comrade. Then, with the exception of two or three, they turned and went out to head off any of the defenders who might escape by an outer window from the tram-line. Appleby secured the officer's pistol, while Harper, apparently with no great effort, dragged him to his feet, and holding him by the shoulder gravely looked him over.

"Well," he said in English, and his voice expressed approbation, "you have grit in you. Now stand still a little. n.o.body's going to hurt you."

The young officer's face was dark with pa.s.sion, but he writhed futilely in his captor's grasp, while the sergeant, who stood up, handed Appleby his rifle.

"Tell him not to wriggle," said Harper, grinning. "Oh, let up, you senseless devil!"

Then while the Sin Verguenza laughed he backed his captive against the wall and gravely proceeded to pull his tunic straight and dust him. When this had been accomplished to his satisfaction he stepped back a pace or two, and surveyed his work smiling.

"There's not much harm done, senor," he said. "Now, I felt it would have been a pleasure to shake the life out of you a minute or two ago."

The officer stared at him in blank astonishment, and then looked at the sergeant, who gravely laid a finger on his forehead.

"They are born that way, these Americans," he said.

The officer made a curious little gesture, and would apparently have unbuckled his sword, but while the men of the Sin Verguenza, unstable even in their fierceness, laughed, Harper seized him by the shoulder, and, signing to the sergeant, propelled him violently to the door.

"Out you go while you've got the chance!" he said in English.

The officer turned, and stood still a moment as though undecided, and then vanished into the night, while in another second the sergeant sprang after him. Appleby laughed as he turned to Harper.

"I scarcely fancy that was wise," he said. "We could have kept him to play off against any of our men who fall into Morales' hands."

"Well," said Harper reflectively, "I don't quite know why I let him go, but he had grit in him, and it seemed to me that if I hadn't let up on taking a life or two after getting out of the plaza in Santa Marta it would have been mean of me. Anyway, I don't figure we'd have kept him.

He has the kind of temper that would have stirred up the Sin Verguenza into sticking knives in him."

Appleby nodded gravely, for he was astonished at very little that Harper did, while though the big skipper's sentiment were crude there was something in his vague notion of thank-offering that appealed to his fancy. Then Maccario came in.

"The cazadores have left two men behind, but the rest got away, except a few who submitted," he said. "We will find a place in the stables for them. It will induce Morales to be more considerate with his prisoners."

Appleby told him about the officer. "It was perhaps a blunder, but we can afford it just now," he said.

Maccario's face grew a trifle grim, but in another moment he made a little gesture of resignation.

"If it was the wish of the Senor Harper! It is sometimes a trifle difficult to understand an American," he said. "Now if we can find any peons they shall cut the cane back from the hacienda. Morales will be here in two or three hours with at least a company."

XXVII - HARDING'S APPROBATION

THE red sunrise found the Sin Verguenza already toiling with fierce activity about the hacienda. This was significant, because they were not addicted to unnecessary physical effort, but they had reasons for knowing it was advisable for the men who incurred the displeasure of Morales to take precautions, and the cane that rolled close up to the hacienda would in case of an a.s.sault afford convenient cover to the cazadores. It went down crackling before the flashing steel, while the perspiration dripped from swarthy faces, and the men gasped as they toiled. Appleby, who stripped himself to shirt and trousers before an hour had pa.s.sed, wondered how long his arms, unused to labor, would stand the strain as he strove to keep pace with the men he led. Harper, almost naked, led another band, and stirred up the spirit of rivalry by rude badinage in barbarous Castilian. It was characteristic that both found the stress of physical effort bracing, and Maccario, attired in hat of costly Panama and spotless duck, watched them with a little twinkle in his dark eyes. There were, he said, sufficient men to do the work without him, and no gentleman of Iberian extraction toiled with his hands unless it was imperatively necessary.

Pickets came in and took up the machetes, gasping men, dripping with perspiration, flung themselves down in the shadow until their turn came again, the sun climbed higher until it was almost overhead, and the juice exuded hot upon the toilers' hands from the crackling stems, while the faint breeze seemed to have pa.s.sed through a furnace, and the brightness was bewildering.

Still, while the s.p.a.ce where the stalks stood scarcely knee-high widened rapidly there was no sign of Morales, and the men grew silent, and now and then cast wondering glances at one another. They had expected the cazadores several hours ago, and their uneasiness was made apparent by the stoppages that grew more frequent while they gazed across the cane.

Morales was, as they knew, not a man who wasted time, and his dilatoriness troubled them, for they felt certain that he would come.

The hour of the siesta arrived, and it was hotter than ever and dazzlingly bright, but no one laid his machete down; and Appleby's hands were bleeding, while his head reeled as he staggered towards the tram- line with great bundles of cane. Morales, it seemed evident, was hatching some cunning plan for their destruction, and though arms and backs ached intolerably they toiled on. It was not until the hour of the comida they desisted, and by then sufficient cane had been cut to leave a s.p.a.ce round the hacienda that would be perilous for the cazadores to cross, and those of the Sin Verguenza who had magazine rifles surveyed it with grim complacency. Then bags of soil were placed here and there along the parapet of the roof and piled behind the patio gate, and the men trooped in to eat. When Morales came they would at least be in a position to welcome him fittingly.

Still, he did not come, and when the shadows of the building which lay long and black across the cleared s.p.a.ce crept into the growing cane a man walked into the patio. Pancho led him up to where Appleby and Maccario sat upon the roof gazing across the green plain towards the wavy thread of carretera.

"There is little news, senor," he said. "Morales sits close in Santa Marta and has drawn his outposts in. One is not allowed to go into or out of the city without a pa.s.s, and the civiles watch the wine-shops."

Maccario appeared thoughtful, but Appleby said, "You had a pa.s.s?"

The man shrugged his shoulders. "It is not always necessary-to me, but as it happens, I have two or three. There are little persuasive tricks known to the friends of liberty, and one can now and then induce a loyal citizen to part with his."

"In Cuba one does not suggest too much," said Maccario dryly. "Your good offices will be remembered when we have taken Santa Marta. There are dollars in that city, and they are scarce just now at San Cristoval.

Morales has been here, you understand. In the meanwhile it is likely that Don Pancho will find you a bottle of wine and a little comida."

The man withdrew, and Maccario contemplated the cigar he lighted. "There is a good deal I do not understand," he said. "Morales does nothing without a motive, and it is quite certain he is not afraid. There is, however, a little defect in his character which has its importance to us."

"One would fancy that there were several," said Appleby.

Maccario smiled, and showed himself, like most men of his nationality, willing to moralize. "Strength comes with unity of purpose," he said. "I am, as an example, anxious only to do what I can to promote Cuban independence, and a very little on behalf of a certain patriot Maccario.

The latter, you understand, is permissible, and almost a duty. Morales, one admits, has at heart the upholding of Spanish domination, and it is at least as certain that any opportunity of profiting one Morales is seized by him. It would not, however, become me to censure him, but the defect is this-Morales always remembers the man who has injured him."

"One would fancy it was a shortcoming which is not unknown among the Sin Verguenza!"

Maccario made a little gesture. "In reason, it is scarcely a defect, but with Morales it is a pa.s.sion which is apt to betray into indiscretions a man who should have nothing at heart but the good of his country and the good of himself."

"I think I understand. You mean--"

"That Morales will endeavor to crush us even if he knows it will cost him a good deal. Cuba is not large enough for a certain three men to live in it together."

"Then his slowness is the more inexplicable."

"I have a notion that there may be an explanation which would not quite please me. It is conceivable that our comrades from beyond the mountains are moving, and he fears an a.s.sault upon Santa Marta."

"In that case you could seize the town by joining hands with them."

Maccario smiled. "If we wait a little we can drive Morales out ourselves; and this district belongs to us, you understand. We have watched over it for a long while, and it would not be convenient that others who have done nothing should divide what is to be gained with us when we have secured its liberty."

Appleby laughed, for his companion's naive frankness frequently delighted him. "Then," he said, "the only thing would be a prompt a.s.sault upon the town, but that is apparently out of the question."