Up the Forked River; Or, Adventures in South America Part 13

"I do not believe a word of it."

"Meantime, what are we to do?"

"Sit down, fold our hands and be good; but," she added with a flash of her eyes, "that is the last thing to do; I long to meet my uncle face to face. It is the first time he ever offered such an insult to the daughter of his dead sister and to her friend. I hope he will not delay his coming."

"I wish to be present when you meet; I, too, shall have something to say, which I do not think he will soon forget."

But the hours wore slowly away and General Yozarro came not. Was he not shrinking from her whose fiery temper he well knew? Which of the two did he fear the most? The northerner may have been of cooler blood, but her anger, when once set aflame, was all the more profound.

She abominated the man with his sleek smile, his oily manner and his tempestuous profanity when he thought himself beyond her hearing. She could not think that the other Dictator, with all his stupidity and grossness, was one-half as wicked as he. Were she free to do so, she would not hesitate to throw herself upon his protection.

"Where can Jack be?" she asked after the mid-day repast, and when the two had talked over every phase of the situation for the twentieth time. "Surely he must soon learn of this and he will be quick to call General Yozarro to account."

"I place little hope on that; do not forget, my dear Warrenia, that the Major is only one man against hundreds."

"But what of the yacht?"

"It is many miles away; no one can say when it will return; remember, too, General Yozarro's gunboat."

The lip of the American curled with contempt.

"Let them meet and it will be Manila Bay over again on a small scale.

I only wish Captain Winton knew of this! He would sink the miserable craft or chase her to the foot of the Andes."

In the momentary reaction, Senorita Estacardo smiled:

"You have full faith in your countrymen."

"So have _you_; so has every one who knows them, and who does not? So will General Yozarro and his barbarians, if they ever rouse the anger of my people. But why do we speculate? It seems we can do nothing but wait. Manuela, can we not steal away when night comes?"

"I have asked myself that question, but I cannot see any hope of doing it. Neither of us can leave without being observed; guards will be on all sides and we shall be turned back as we were this morning. Let us go to the upper part of the Castle and look over the country. It may avail nothing, but it will be a relief to this monotony."

They climbed to the rooms above, which, as we know, were copies of those they had just left, with the narrow windows on all sides. The Senorita walked to the opening on the south which commanded a view of the densely wooded mountains that stretched clear across the island to the main branch of the Rio Rubio. She expected to see nothing in that direction of interest and made the survey because her companion pa.s.sed to the windows on the north.

"Come to me!" called the American; "here is something strange."

The Senorita was at her side on the instant. Looking across the mile of rugged country to where the northern stream wound its way, they saw a small sailboat speeding to the eastward, the moderate breeze causing it to careen far to one side. Its prow cut the curling water and the foam spread out like a fan in its wake.

"If we had a gla.s.s we might study it closely," said Miss Starland regretfully, as she scrutinized the craft.

"I don't think there is anything of the kind in the Castle, but it can make little difference. The boat is a strange one to us, and whoever is guiding it is no concern of ours."

"Probably you are right, but it looks to me as if there are two or three aboard,--ah! there are three and they are heading toward sh.o.r.e.

They must land near where we left the boat last night."

"And what of that?"

"It looks as if they are coming to the Castle; they will soon be here!"

"That does not seem likely to me; the only ones whom we expect are General Yozarro and his friends, and so long as he has the larger craft, he will not use such a puny boat as that."

CHAPTER XIX.

The American did not reply, but held her gaze upon the little vessel, whose curving to the right might change at any moment; but it kept straight on under the propulsion of the breeze until hidden from sight by the tops of the trees. The three men had certainly approached land, though it could not be said they had left the boat.

"What do you make of it?" asked Miss Starland.

"Probably three natives have run to sh.o.r.e for a little while and will soon pa.s.s out again and continue on their way."

"Let us keep watch."

They did so, and when an hour had pa.s.sed and the sun was low in the sky, the craft had failed to appear. Far to the westward, a thin, dark, shadowy line lay motionless against the horizon, too far off to be identified.

"I think it is the smoke of the gunboat," said the Senorita; "General Yozarro means to come to the Castle over the same course we followed."

They looked long and anxiously, but the horizontal streak of vapor gradually faded without bringing the craft into view. The tug had steamed in the opposite direction, or there had been a change of mind and the fires were banked or allowed to go out.

Miss Starland was still gazing, hoping and dreading the appearance of the craft, when her friend pressed her arm and asked in a hurried undertone:

"Do you see him?"

She indicated a point in the trail no more than a furlong distant, where it emerged around a ma.s.s of rocks, between the Castle and the waterfall. The path just there was so narrow as to permit the pa.s.sage of only a single person or animal. Withdrawing her gaze from the distance, she made out the form of a man, standing at the curve. He was motionless, and evidently studying the Castle.

His dress and swarthy countenance, plainly visible in the sunlight, showed that he was a native, who, for some reason, felt a peculiar interest in the grim structure. He may have stood thus for some minutes before the Senorita observed him, but he remained for a brief while longer, so stationary that he might well have been taken for a figure of stone.

"Do you know him?" asked the American.

"Only that he is an Atlamalcan; he wears the blue jacket; that of the Zalapatans is red,--the two tints being the distinguishing features of their uniforms; you observe he is dressed the same as our guards."

"Have you ever seen him before?"

"He is too far off for me to observe his countenance clearly, but, so far as I can say, he is a stranger. I think he is a member of our guard."

"Why then is he not with them? What is his object in going out there and posing in that way?"

"I wish I could answer your questions. Perhaps our captain suspects we are dreaming of escape and he has sent out guards to watch the Castle from all sides."

"It seems more likely to me that he came from the small boat; he may be a messenger from General Yozarro."

"If so, his action is inexplicable. If a messenger, he would hurry to the Castle and deliver his message."

"Perhaps he has done so and is going away."

While all was conjecture, the man moved. It was then noted that he carried no gun though he doubtless had smaller weapons. He turned slowly about, facing the other way, strode a dozen steps or so and then pa.s.sed from sight. Thinking he might appear again the two watched the spot for the following half hour, during which he was not seen again. Then, looking in the direction of Atlamalco they were unable to detect any trace of the finger of smoke which had faded out and which they thought might come to view again.