The Free Lances Part 35

The soldiers engrossed with their game, and the dwarf, though but a spectator, having also become interested in it--none of the three either saw or heard him. And the last he heard of them as he stole silently away was the corporal delightedly calling out--

"_Sota en la puerta, mozo_! The dagger's mine, darling Perico!"

CHAPTER FIFTY THREE.

A SERIES OF SURPRISES.

The _cochero_ had but a confused idea of what he was carrying away with him. By the feel, watches, with chains and bracelets; besides some smaller articles wrapped in bits of paper. The uncertainty of his getting safe up the cliff hindered him from giving them even the most cursory examination, nor did he think of doing this till at sufficient distance from the card-playing party to feel sure he was beyond danger of pursuit. Then the temptation to have a look at the things, which had so strangely and unexpectedly come into his possession, became irresistible; and sitting down upon a ledge of rock, he drew them out into the light of the moon. Two watches were there, both gold, and one with a jewelled case.

"_Carrai_!" he exclaimed, as his eyes fell upon the latter, and became fixed in a stare of blank amazement, "can it be! It is--the Condesa's watch--the very one she would have given me! But how came the hunchback to have it? Surely he must have stolen it. The other, too, with all these things!"

He looked at the second watch, but as it had never been in his hands before, he was unable to identify it. Still, it resembled one he had seen his mistress wearing, and most likely was the same.

The bracelets, chains, necklets, and brooches would be theirs, too; as also the rings and other bijouterie, which the dwarf had found time to do up in paper.

"Stolen them?" continued the _cochero_ interrogatively, as he ran his eyes over the varied a.s.sortment.

"How could he? The watches he might, but the other things? Why bless me, here are two pairs of ear-rings--and these grand pendants--I'm sure I saw them in the ears of the Condesa this very day. He couldn't have taken them without her knowing it. _Santo Dios_! How ever has he come by them?"

As he thus questioned and reflected, a feeling of apprehension began to creep over him. A little before leaving the house to go after his horses he had observed his young mistress and the Condesa going into the ornamental grounds. And they went alone; Don Ignacio having repaired to a private apartment, where he was accustomed to shut himself up for the examination of State papers, what if the ladies _were_ still in the grounds, in some secluded spot, lying dead, where all these adornments had been stripped from their persons!

This horrible tableau did the faithful servant in imagination conjure up. He could not help it. Nor was the thing so very improbable. He had some earlier acquaintance with the desperate character of the dwarf, which later experience confirmed. Besides, there was the state of the country--thieves and robbers all round--men who made light of murder!

With a heaviness of heart--a painful fear that there had been murder--he stayed not to further examine the trinkets; but gathering all up again, and thrusting them back into his pocket, hurried on home.

And when home he went not to his own quarters in the coachyard, but straight into the _patio_--the private court of the house. There he encountered Pepita; soon as he set eyes on her, asking--

"Where are the _Senoritas_?"

"What's that to you?" saucily retorted the maid.

"Nothing, if I only knew they were safe."

"Safe! Why what's the man thinking--talking about? Have you lost your senses, _hombre_?"

"No, Pepita. But the ladies have lost something. Look here!"

He had plunged both his hands into his pockets, and drawn them out again full of things that scintillated in the moonlight--watches and jewellery of different kinds, as she saw. With a woman's curiosity, gliding swiftly forward to examine them, she recognised every article at a glance, amazement overspreading her countenance, as it lately had his.

"_Ay de mi_!" she exclaimed, no longer in jesting tone. "What does it all mean, Jose?"

"Just what I want to know myself, and why I am asking after the Senoritas. But where are they?"

"In the garden, or the grounds somewhere. They strolled out about an hour ago, and haven't been in since."

"Pray G.o.d, they're still alive! Come with me, Pepita. Let us look for them. I have terrible fears."

So appealed to, the girl gave ready a.s.sent; and side by side they hastened towards the rear of the house, behind which were the ornamental grounds extending backwards. But they had not far to go before hearing sounds that set their minds at rest, removing all anxiety--the voices of the ladies themselves. They were not only alive, but laughing!

To Jose and Pepita this seemed strange as anything else--a perfect mystery. Merry after parting with all those pretty things; costly, too--worth hundreds of _doblones_! Withal, they were so; their lightness of heart due to the knowledge thus gained, that their own lovers were still living and safe; and something of merriment, added by that odd encounter with the _enano_, of which they were yet conversing.

If their behaviour mystified their servants, not less were they themselves puzzled when Jose presented himself before them with hands held out, saying:

"I ask your pardon for intruding, but don't these belong to your ladyships?"

They saw their watches and other effects obtained from them by "false pretences," as they were now to learn.

The revelation that succeeded put an end to their joyous humour; their hearts that had been light for a moment were now becoming heavier than ever. The treachery of the hunchback and his intentions were manifest.

He meant to guide Santander and his soldiers to the old monastery, where they would take the _patriotas_ by surprise.

"What is to be done, Ysabel?" despairingly asked the Donna Luisa. "How can we give them warning?"

To which the _cochero_, not the Countess, made answer, saying:

"I can do that, _Senorita_."

His confident tone rea.s.sured them; more still his making known the design he had already conceived, and his ability to execute it. He was acquainted with the old convent and the paths leading to it--every inch of them.

It needed not their united appeal to urge him to immediate departure.

He was off the instant after, and long before the clock of Talpam had struck the midnight hour, well up the mountain road, with eyes looking to the right, in the direction of the Cerro Ajusco.

CHAPTER FIFTY FOUR.

MONKS NO MORE.

The surmise which had influenced Zorillo to leaving the convent cell earlier than he intended was a correct one. The goings on in the Refectory were, at the time, of an unusual kind--a grand occasion, as he had worded it. There were some fifty men in it; but not one of them now effecting either the garb or the behaviour of the monk. Soldiers all; or at least in warlike guise; a few wearing regular though undress uniforms, but the majority habited as "guerilleros," in the picturesque costumes of their country. They were booted, and belted, swords by their sides, with pistols in holsters hanging against the walls, and spurs ready for buckling on. Standing in corners were stacks of carbines, and lances freshly pennoned, with their blades bright from being recently sharpened--a panoply which spoke of fighting ere long expected to take place.

It may be asked where were their horses, since all the arms and accoutrements seen around were those of cavalry? But horses they had, though not there. Each knew where to lay hands on his own, far or near, stalled in the stable of some sequestered _rancho_, or, it might be, mountain cavern. They were not yet a.s.sembled to hearken to the call of "Boot and Saddle." That they would hear at a later hour, and in a different place.

The occasion of their being in such guise and together was because it was to be the last night of their sojourn in the monastery. And they were making it a merry one; the Refectory table was being loaded with the best that was left to them in meals and drinks. Upon it were what bottles remained of those famous wines from the bins of the rich _haciendado_--his forced contribution--and they were fast getting emptied. From the way the _convives_ were quaffing, it was not likely that any of the Burgundy, Madeira, or Pedro Ximenes would be left behind--not even a "heel-tap."

It had got to be midnight, and they were still in the midst of the revelry, when Rivas, who headed the table, rose to his feet, in that formal manner which tells of speech to be made or toast proclaimed.

"_Camaradas_!" he said, as soon as the buzz of conversation had ended, "as you're aware, we part from this place to-night; and some of you know whither we are going and for what purpose. But not all; therefore I deem it my duty to tell you. You saw a courier who came up early this morning--bringing good news, I'm glad to say. This despatch I hold in my hand is from an old friend, General Alvarez, who, though he may not boast _sangre-azul_ in his veins, is as brave a soldier and pure a patriot as any in the land. You know that. He tells me his _Pintos_ are ready for a rising, and only wait for us--the 'Free Lances'--with some others he has summoned to join him in giving the _grito_. By his messenger I have sent answer that we, too, are ready, and will respond to his summons. You all approve of that, I take it?"

"All!" was the exclaim in chorus, without a dissenting voice.

"Moreover," proceeded the speaker, "I've told the General we'll be on the march to-morrow morning, and can meet him at a place he has mentioned the day after. His plan is to attack the town of Oaxaca; and, if we succeed in taking it, then we move direct on the capital. Now _camarados_, I've nothing more to say; only that you're to scatter after your horses, and lose no time in mustering again--the old rendezvous, this side La Guarda."

So ended the speech of the Free Lances' leader; but despite the suggestions of immediate departure, the circle around the table did not instantly break up.

The bottles were not all empty as yet, nor the revellers satisfied to leave them till they should be so. Besides, there was no particular need of haste for another hour or two. So they stuck to the table, smoking, drinking, and toasting many things, as persons, among the latter their lately joined allies--the _Irlandes_ and _Tejano_, about whose proved valour on other fields, of which they had heard, the Free Lances were enthusiastically eloquent.

Kearney, speaking in their own tongue, made appropriate response; while Rock, when told he had been toasted, delivered himself in characteristic strain, saying:--