DON JUAN D'ALTA
No sooner had we passed through the cyclists than they formed across
the road and, dismounting, took up positions behind any cover which
they discovered in the rough ground.
To my astonishment they unstrapped rifles from their machines, and as
soon as the robbers appeared in pursuit greeted them with a rapid fire
evidently from magazines. I saw several saddles emptied as they turned
and rode off.
A few minutes after St. Nivel and his friends rejoined us.
"That was a lucky thought of mine," he said, laughing, when he had
gripped my hand and congratulated me on our escape.
I remembered seeing the bicycles being put into the train at Monte
Video, and the magazine rifles of course were in the guard's van, and
ought to have been used when the robbers attacked us, but they came too
suddenly and there was no time to get them.
From that time forward things went easily enough; steam was soon up,
and we were away again to Valoro within half an hour. At the next
station a special restaurant car was attached; we were treated like
heroes, sitting amid the popping of champagne corks relating our
adventures, and this went on long after the morning had broken.
But I, tired out, soon sought my bed in the sleeping-car, but not
before I had been assured at the door of the ladies' car, by Mrs.
Darbyshire, now all tears and smiles, that Dolores had regained
consciousness, and was unhurt, save for bruises and, of course, a
severe shock.
I slept until within an hour of our running into Valoro station late in
the afternoon, and just had time to have a delicious bath and emerge
fresh and hungry into the restaurant car in which St. Nivel, Lady
Ethel, and Dolores looking very pale and ill, were just finishing
lunch. My darling sat beside me while I lunched and held my hand--when
it was disengaged--unheeded by Mrs. Darbyshire. This lady, I think,
considered that the case had got beyond her and had better be relegated
to a higher court--Don Juan d'Alta--for judgment.
Dolores even lighted my cigarette for me, but soon after her aunt took
her away to prepare to leave the train.
"What on earth made you hand that poor devil of a brigand chief that
box of cigars, Jack?" I asked St. Nivel, when we were alone with Ethel,
and he had restored my precious casket to me; "he might have taken it
and got the whole shoot."
"At that moment," replied St. Nivel, glancing through the rings of his
cigar smoke quite affectionately at me, "I wished he _would_ take it.
Things looked very ugly for you, and we were powerless to help you. I
thought if he took the cigar case the casket would at least be with you
and you would know it and could use your own discretion about giving
them the tip if your life were threatened as I imagined it would be."
"Very clever of you, Jack," I answered, "and I'm very much obliged to
you for thinking of it, but I am glad that the poor devil didn't take
it after all. I believe it to be my duty to take it to Don Juan
d'Alta, even at the risk of my life."
St. Nivel sat thinking a moment or two; then he spoke.
"Why do you use the term 'poor devil'?" he asked, "when you speak of
the robber chief?"
I told him why. I told him how I had shot him.
"Well, really, Bill," he said very seriously, "I wish the thing _had_
gone. It has already cost several lives, and seems to carry ill-luck
with it. Who knows how many more lives may be sacrificed? Of course,
there cannot be a doubt but that the train was held up solely to obtain
it; the taking of the hundred dollars a head was simply a ruse to cover
the other. Old Frampton says such a raid on a train is a thing unheard
of now in Aquazilia."
"Yes," I answered, "but it came to a good round sum all the same.
Well, at any rate," I continued, as the train ran into Valoro station,
"we've brought the thing to its destination, and we're all safe and
sound, so there's _something_ to be thankful for!"
At Valoro, things were "all right" as my man Brooks put it; news of the
attack on the train, in which was the British Minister, had reached the
capital, and a troop of cavalry awaited to escort him to his Legation.
"As I understand you have something of importance to deliver in
Valoro," said Sir Rupert Frampton to me as we left the train, "I think
you had better come in my carriage. I am taking Mrs. Darbyshire and
the Señorita with me too. They both want reassuring, and the morale of
the escort will do that. I shall take them right home."
"Thank you very much," I answered, "that will suit me down to the
ground. My mission is to deliver a packet to Don Juan d'Alta himself."
"Then come along," added Sir Rupert, "for, of course, the ladies are
going there too."
In a few minutes we were driving out of the station yard in a fine
carriage, surrounded by soldiers.
It was the first time I had ever ridden with an escort, and I liked it.
We left the immense terminus, which would not have disgraced the finest
city in Europe, and turned up a great boulevard leading to the higher
part of the city where amid trees we could see many fine white houses.
"That is our house!" cried Dolores, as we left the houses behind and
came out into the country. "Look, aunt! look, William!"
I did look and saw on the crest of the hill we were approaching, far
away to the left, a long range of white buildings, relieved with
towers, which looked like a small castle.
It filled me with apprehension, for it was a sign of the great wealth
of her father--the wealth which I feared would be a bar to our union.
I think she was surprised at the glum look on my face for the rest of
the little journey.
"Are you sorry to go and see my father?" she asked plaintively, with a
sweet look in her blue eyes. "I am sure he will be very glad to see
_you_ and to thank you for saving me. He is a very kind man is my
father," she added solemnly, "very kind to me, and very kind to his
reptiles."
Before them all--Mrs. Darbyshire was now quite resigned--I took her
hand and pressed it.
"It is a very easy thing to be kind to _you_, Dolores," I said. "I
should find the difficulty in being kind to the reptiles."
"But you will humour my father, won't you?" she asked, and then dropped
her voice, "for both our sakes?"
The amount of interest dear old Sir Rupert Frampton took in distant
scenery during this drive, and the many objects of interest he pointed
out to Mrs. Darbyshire to divert her attention from us, made me his
willing slave for life. For, indeed, I was agitated at the prospect of
the interview which was to come in a few minutes with old Don Juan
d'Alta, not only for our sake, but for the sake of the dear old lady at
Bath, who I doubted not was now dead, and the packet she had confided
to my care.
It was a comfort to sit with Dolores' little hand in mine. My other
clasped the precious packet in my trousers pocket.
At last we drove into a great avenue filled with the most luxuriant
tropical vegetation, very carefully tended, for there were men at work
everywhere.
The escort wheeled away into line as we swept under a great
glass-roofed portiere, and came to a halt at a fine flight of marble
steps, where Sir Rupert left us and drove away with the soldiers
clattering around him.
Yes, the home of my Dolores was like a modern palace.
Overcome with seeing it again, I think she forgot even me for the
moment. She ran gaily up the steps, trilling with laughter.
"Where is father?" she cried.
That gentleman answered her question in person.
At the head of the steps appeared an old man dressed in black with an
abundance of perfectly white hair which surrounded a very
good-humoured, wrinkled face, almost as brown as a berry. It was the
face of an aristocrat, but of an aristocrat who lived in the open air,
and a good deal under the burning sun of an Aquazilian summer.
He came forward with a very loving smile on his old face and took his
little daughter in his arms.
Their greeting was in Spanish and therefore most of it was lost to me,
but I took it to be a very affectionate one. This over, the
conversation turned in my direction and broke into English.
"This is the gentleman who saved me from the robbers, father,"
exclaimed Dolores; "this is Mr. William Anstruther."
The old man turned towards me with extended hands, his face beaming.
"Mr. Anstruther," he said, speaking in very fair English, which I found
most of the gentry spoke there, "let me take your hands and thank you
from my heart for your heroic conduct to my daughter. The news of the
outrage and your gallant escape reached us together by telegraph the
first thing this morning. Indeed, I think they had the news at the
club last night."
When he had at last let my hand go, I got in a word of my own.
"Naturally," I began, "you will like to spend some time with your
daughter, but when you are at liberty I have an important message to
deliver to you."
"Indeed!" he said, looking rather surprised. "From whom?"
"From an old lady who formerly lived at Bath, in England," I replied,
"but who now, I fear, is dead--murdered!"
"Good heavens!" he cried; "who can it be?"
"It was a lady known by the name of Carlotta Altenberg," I answered.
"Good God!" he cried, throwing up his hands excitedly; "poor old
d'Altenberg murdered!"
I was rather disappointed at his tone. It was very certain that the
old lady was a person of little importance, or he would never have
spoken of her like that.
In a moment or two he turned to me again.
"I have taken the liberty," he said, "of having your luggage and that
of your friends with whom you are travelling--and whom Dolores tells me
are your cousins--brought up here. I could not think of allowing you
to stay anywhere else in Valoro than under my roof, and I am vain
enough to think that we can keep you amused during your stay."
I made suitable acknowledgments for his kindness, and was wondering all
the while, in my heart, under what lucky star I had been born to be
located beneath the very roof with my Dolores, and that, too, at her
father's invitation. But he broke in upon my thanks.
"Not another word, Mr. Anstruther," he said; "it is you who confer the
benefit upon me.
"Now, you say you have a message from the poor old Baroness d'Altenberg
for me. Good! I will show you to my study, and there we will go into
the matter at our leisure."
He led me down a long corridor to a beautiful room overlooking the
valley, communicating with a long range of what looked like
conservatories. Hardly necessary, I thought, in such a climate!
"Now," said my host, placing a box of cigars before me, "amuse yourself
with these, and my servant shall bring us some champagne to celebrate
your arrival. I will just go and see my sister and little Dolores
settled in their apartments, then I will come back to you and we can
have our talk. You shall tell me all about the poor Baroness."
The kind old man pressed me down into a comfortable lounge chair, then
with a smile departed.
I took a good look round the room, and took stock of its contents. It
was furnished very luxuriously in the European fashion and contained
some beautiful pictures, but its principal ornaments were cases of
stuffed reptiles of every sort, from a tiny lizard to a great
boa-constrictor with red jaws agape.
There were four French windows opening to the ground, shaded by outside
striped blinds similar to those used in England, but not low enough to
hide a most splendid view of hill and dale and far-away mountains,
which seemed to surround the city of Valoro, itself seeming to rest on
a plateau.
I was standing looking at a case of particularly objectionable yellow
snakes when I heard one of the French windows move behind me; turning,
I came face to face with the polite lieutenant of the band of robbers
who had attacked our train. He had discarded the cowboys' dress and
wore the clothes of a gentleman. He at once raised a revolver to the
level of my head as I started back, and addressed me in perfectly
polite tones.
"Come, come, Mr. Anstruther," he said, "it's no good. I want that
packet. If you don't give it to me I shall simply shoot you through
the head and take it."
It appeared to me that my journey after all had been in vain; there was
the muzzle of the pistol within six inches of my head, and I had to
make up my mind about it.
St. Nivel's words came back to me concerning the ill-luck of it, and I
could almost hear him saying--
"Let the thing go; it isn't worth risking your life for."
Then I thought of Dolores, and on this thought broke the voice of the
robber, cold and hard.
"You must make up your mind, Mr. Anstruther," he said, "while I count
ten, otherwise I must fire."
He commenced counting slowly.
"One."
The thought of Dolores grew stronger.
"Two."
I could almost _hear_ St. Nivel's voice urging me to give it up.
"Three."
Then there was my promise to the old lady, murdered, I believed, by
these infamous ruffians. I hesitated.
"Four."
"Five."
"Six."
Then came another thought: would the old lady, who had been spoken of
as the Baroness d'Altenberg, hold me to my word under the circumstances?
"Seven."
"Eight."
I doubted it.
"Nine."
I had made up my mind to save my life for Dolores.
"Hold," I said; "I will give it to you!"
He smiled.
"I think you are very sensible," he said; "anybody else but an
Englishman would have given it up long ago, and then a great deal of
trouble and several lives would have been saved."
I put my hand in my pocket despising myself the while for giving way,
but still convinced that I should have been a fool to throw my life
away under the circumstances.
"Perhaps you will tell me," I asked, as I drew the packet from my
pocket, "how it is that you know I am here and that I have the packet
with me?"
He laughed.
"I may as well tell you," he said, "that you have never been left
unwatched since you left Bath."
"You seem to know my movements pretty well yourself," I said, in an
astonished tone.
"Pretty well," he answered, with another smile.
I had no sooner drawn the packet from my pocket than he snatched it
unceremoniously from my hands and walked with it towards the window.
"Don't move," he cried to me, "until I tell you _or_ I shall fire. I
must verify the contents before I leave you."
He still held the pistol in my direction and I have no doubt would have
fired had I made the slightest move towards him, which I could not have
done without making some noise, for about six paces divided us.
I stood still and regarded him as he tore off the covering with his
teeth.
He was so thoroughly engrossed with the task that he did not hear a
slight rustling sound which caused me to turn my head towards the door
which led to the long range of what appeared to be glass houses, and
which was just open a little. What I saw there made me turn cold from
head to foot.
Gliding through the slightly open door, and pushing it farther open as
it came with its immense bulk, was a huge black and yellow snake!
It was moving in the direction of the robber, who, entirely engrossed
with the packet from which he had torn the wrapper, was totally
oblivious of his position. The snake had possibly been attracted by
the tearing noise which he had made as he rent the linen envelope with
his teeth.
I had almost cried aloud to warn him, when, I checked myself. The man
had come to murder me; he must take his chance. He had turned to me,
satisfied with his scrutiny of the casket which he now held in his
hand, the box which contained it having been thrown on the floor, when
I saw the snake draw itself into a great coil and raise its head; then,
just as his lips were opening to speak to me, the great reptile made a
spring, and in an instant coiled itself tight round him, the tail
whipping close like a steel wire. He gave a great cry and dropped the
casket and the revolver immediately. Within a second or two I had them
in my hands, and at the same moment the door opened and Don Juan d'Alta
entered.
He rapped out a great Spanish oath, and a good many more words in the
same language; then he turned to me.
"Who is this man?" he asked.
"That is one of the men," I answered at once, "who attacked the train.
He entered this room a few minutes after you left me with the intention
of robbing or murdering me."
"Then he seems to have got his deserts," replied my host, laughing. He
came quite close to me and whispered in my ear, "The snake is quite
harmless, but it will give him a fright and maybe break a rib or two if
it squeezes hard."
The old man appeared to regard it as a huge joke, but kept a solemn
face.
It appeared to be going beyond a joke to break his ribs, and I said so
in a whisper.
"He deserves it," was the reply.
Meanwhile, the robber was becoming absolutely livid with fear, and
began to supplicate Don Juan in Spanish.
Finding this of no avail, he turned to me.
"Have mercy, Señor," he cried piteously, "and help me to free myself
from this reptile. It is crushing me to death."
The horrible thing with wide-open jaws was breathing in his face, and
its fetid breath seemed turning him sick.
Don Juan laughed aloud, rather heartlessly it seemed to me, but the
Spanish nature is a cruel one to its enemies.
"I know the man," he said, "and I cannot understand what has brought
him into this _galère_. Let us question him?"
* * * * *
I could not quite see that a man enveloped in the embrace of a
boa-constrictor, even though the reptile might be tame and harmless,
would be a person likely to give either correct or coherent answers to
questions, but I acquiesced in Don Juan d'Alta's suggestion that we
should try and get some information out of him.
He commenced at once; speaking in English for my benefit.
"What induced you and your band to attack the train yesterday?" was his
first question.
"I don't know," was the answer.
"That is a lie," responded Don Juan, speaking quite coolly. "If you
wish to get out of the coils of that snake, you must speak the truth.
"Now come, I know of course who you are, I know everybody in Valoro,
and especially the members of the Carlotta Society, which is avowedly
Royalist and opposed to the present Government like myself. You are a
member of that Society; you are one of its leaders. I suggest to you
that the so-called band of robbers who attacked the train last night
were simply members of the Carlotta Society?"
"I admit," gasped the man, trying with all his force to keep the
boa-constrictor's head away from his face, "that I am a leader of the
Carlotta Society, but I cannot disclose its secrets even to you."
"You must speak, Lopes," Don Juan said, "or you will not get free.
Remember that I am a member of the Carlotta Society myself, though an
honorary one on account of my age. You will never get back to your
desk in the bank of Valoro if you don't speak."
"It is inhuman!" cried the man desperately, "it is vile torture!"
"It is also inhuman," added Don Juan sententiously, "to raid trains,
and to threaten murder as you have done in this room. Your band too
was none too scrupulous in hanging Jimenez the half-breed, though he
was an informer. Tell me now, why did you hold up the train? why did
you try to rob this English gentleman?"
"It was done," answered the man stertorously, for he was becoming weak,
"it was done on urgent orders from Europe from our head."
Don Juan started, and going close whispered a name in his ear.
"Yes," replied Lopes faintly, but I heard the words, "from the Duke
himself."
As Don Juan turned from him with a perplexed look, his eye caught the
casket which I still held in my hand; he lost colour and became very
agitated as he saw it.
"Where did you get that from?" he asked abruptly, seizing my hand.
I opened my hand and placed the casket in his.
"From the Baroness d'Altenberg," I replied. "I made the journey from
Europe to give it to you. My task is accomplished."
The casket had reached its destination.