“There is no danger to a man that knows
What life and death is.”
CHAPMAN.
It may be readily imagined that Beatriz listened eagerly to a
conversation which gave her the clue to all the tortuous actions of
Tolta in regard to herself and Olmedo. He had no sooner gone than she
entered, throwing back the covering to her face, which, amid the general
excitement, had enabled her to pass unobserved among her companions,
who, immediately coming after, imitated her example. Notwithstanding the
suddenness of her appearance, and the obscure light, Olmedo knew her
at once, and greeted her with an exclamation of joyful surprise. The
guards, challenging the intruders, were about to take them into custody,
but perceiving their young chiefess, and two of them recognizing their
wives, they were at a loss what to do; whether to give an alarm, which
would be their death-warrant, or by acquiescing in the sacrilege, run
the risk of being themselves involved in their crime. Their attachment
to Liliha proved stronger than their fears, as she partly appealed to
their personal fealty, and partly commanded their services, seconded
by her women, who, having now irrevocably committed themselves, had
no other resource than to bribe or cajole them to silence. Still they
were incurring, as they well knew, a fearful hazard, and they heartily
wished themselves out of the net into which they had been led by their
inexperienced mistress. She herself did not reflect how the adventure
might terminate, now that she had missed her father, but was so absorbed
in her desire to save Beatriz, that she thought of nothing else. Indeed
she entered as impulsively into every act that had that in view, as
she would have into any scheme of pleasure. It was the first time she
had ever taken any serious responsibility upon herself, unknown to
or unadvised by her father. Up to this moment she had fully expected
to meet him, not doubting but that, as usual, he would accede to her
wishes. Could she have read in his calm exterior the closely weighed
policy which decided every question solely in reference to his ambition,
and made him patient or impetuous, kind or cruel, priest or infidel,
selfish or generous, only as interest swayed, she would have hesitated to
approach him on such an errand. When he proposed to Olmedo to save him by
substituting another victim, he was sincere. Not that he desired to spare
him the pangs of the sacrifice, but that he might reserve him to gratify
his inquisitive mind, after which he would have consigned him, with
equal indifference, to death, or sent him back to Kiana, as his policy
prompted. The refusal of Olmedo had perplexed him. It was an exhibition
of character not within his calculation. He would not risk his popularity
with the expectant multitude, by refusing to sacrifice Olmedo, as had
been solemnly proclaimed; but, true to his promise to aid Beatriz, and
hoping from her to obtain further disclosures of the acts of Tolta, he
had set off soon after for his own residence. By taking the main road
he missed Liliha, who arrived at the fortress at the same time that he
reached his own house. Thus it was that the maiden was left solely to her
own resources, as she was told by the guards her father had returned to
his home, and would not be back before early morning.
When she heard this her heart failed her, and she wrung her hands,
exclaiming, “What can be done? By morning it will be too late. I will go
to Pohaku. He will not refuse the daughter of Hewahewa her petition.”
“Nay, nay, our chiefess, you would bring ruin to us all, and to your
father also. Think not of this. He is as merciless as death. Like a
maddened boar, he will rend us all,” both women and guards exclaimed in
one breath, as each began to discuss how to escape from their present
perilous position.
While this was going on, Beatriz had explained to Olmedo all that had
occurred since they parted, and he had told her his history. His first
idea in seeing her was that she had been brought to share his fate, but
finding that she was comparatively free and with friends, hope began to
revive in each for the other. Overhearing the discussion between the
women and the guards, Olmedo said, “These friendly natives must not be
put to death for me. We must either all depart, or you must go as you
came, and leave me to my destiny. Some other mode of escape may offer,
which shall not risk so many lives for one.”
“I will never again leave you, Olmedo. If you remain, I remain; if you
go, I go. Whatever your fate may be, I am here to share it,” said Beatriz.
“Say not so, my daughter, my Beatriz. Go with those who brought you here.
They can guard you safely back to Juan. If you remain with me, they are
lost. Surely you would not cost them their lives. Go while there is yet
time. God will guard you. As for me, I am a soldier of the cross, and
it is meet that I should offer up my life rather than violate its holy
principles. There,” said Olmedo, tenderly taking her hand and putting it
into that of Liliha, “depart with her. She will rescue you and restore
you to your brother.”
Withdrawing her hand from Liliha’s, Beatriz took Olmedo’s, and fixing
her expressive eyes on his, firmly and slowly said, “My resolution is
formed. Did you ever know me to swerve from my decision? Go, I pray
you,” said she, turning to Liliha. “May the Holy Virgin reward you for
your kindness, dear sister. Embrace me. Your father, should he come to
know this, would not be cruel to his daughter for her love to the white
maiden.”
But Liliha clung convulsively to her and refused to part. “I cannot give
you up,” said she. “I am your sister. If you stay, I will stay. You shall
not die so cruel a death,” and she sobbed like an infant, while her
women, terrified at her words, urged her to delay no longer. The guards
added their entreaties, for at any moment some of the priests might
return, and then all would be lost.
Olmedo, seeing the unfortunate turn Beatrix’s endeavor to save him was
taking, here interposed, as a new idea suggested itself, saying, “Calm
yourselves and listen to me. If these good men,” speaking of his guards,
“will consent, we can be all saved.”
“How! What do you propose? I will answer for my people,” eagerly
exclaimed Liliha.
“Then let us all fly at once, taking the shortest and safest route to
Kiana’s territory. Some of you must know the country well. He will reward
you all to the extent of your desires, and protect you from the vengeance
of your chief.”
“And leave my father! What will he think of me? I must not forsake him,”
said Liliha, with a filial firmness that threatened to extinguish the
last hope of rescue for Beatriz.
“It will be but for a short time, noble maiden,” urged Olmedo. “He will
pardon you for an act of mercy—for saving the life of your friend and
sister. You have gone so far that there is safety in no other course.
Finish your merciful work, my daughter, and the blessings of the God of
the Christian will ever attend you, and his holy saints have you always
in their keeping. The Great God wills it. Your heart is too tender to
leave her to suffer so cruelly from the malice of a stranger to your race
and ours. Your women, too; think of them; their visit here cannot long
be concealed. As soon as it is known, they will be inhumanly tortured,
and sacrificed to demons. Would you have the blood of all these upon your
head? No. Your father will not blame you.”
“The stranger priest speaks well,” interposed Umi, the captain of the
guards, glad of an opportunity to desert the service of Pohaku for that
of Kiana, and seeing in this affair an occasion to recommend himself to
that chieftain. “By sunrise we can reach the territories of Kiana if we
start now. I know a city of refuge near the frontier, where we can be in
safety until he comes to our rescue. Let us go at once.”
“For my sake, for the love you bear your father, save mine,” pleaded
Beatriz, embracing her.
The women and guards added their entreaties, so that Liliha hesitated
no longer. “Be it so,” said she, “I yield for your sakes, but my heart
misgives me for deserting my father.” But there was no time for further
indecision, so they bore her half-reluctantly forward, leaving the heiau
by the gate farthest from the fortress, fortunately meeting no one. It
wanted an hour and a half of midnight. The moon rose as they reached a
path that skirted the crater on its northern side. By its light they made
tolerably quick progress over the rough country, in the direction of the
eastern shore of Hawaii.
They had been gone about three hours, when Tolta walked once more towards
the heiau, desirous of seeing his captive again before he was wholly
given up to Hewahewa, for the terrible rites of the dawning festival.
Surprised and angry at finding the temple wholly deserted, his first
thought was, that the guards and priests, whose duty required them to
have been there at that hour, had left their captive and gone to indulge
in the orgies at the fort. He searched everywhere without finding a trace
of Olmedo, and was on the point of going back to seek Hewahewa, and
demand why the prisoner had been removed, when he saw something bright
lying on the ground, close by the gate farthest from Pohaku’s quarters.
Picking it up he recognized the well-known rosary of Beatriz. Immediately
the misgiving crossed his mind that by some means he was unable to
account for, she had been able to release Olmedo, and they had fled.
Alone and unassisted, such a deed was impossible. She must, therefore,
have secured aid from some one, able either to overawe or bribe those who
had the custody of Olmedo. His suspicion fell at once upon Hewahewa. “He
seeks to ingratiate himself with Kiana,” thought he, “by revealing the
plot and restoring the prisoners. But why? What motive can there be for
such a step, when our joint plans were so nigh success?” Confiding his
discovery to no one, he went back to the fortress, hoping that he might
find Hewahewa, and learn from him that he was wrong in his conjecture.
He was as unsuccessful in getting tidings of him as of Olmedo. Doubt
now ripened into certainty, and he felt sure that Hewahewa had not only
released the prisoners, but accompanied them in their flight. “The
traitor, does he think to foil me thus? I will have his head and one
rival the less. I never liked his ominous silence,—his thought is as
secret as the grave. But they cannot have gone far. I must pursue and
capture them before this gets to the ears of Pohaku. Caught in the act,
he will then be sure not to spare even his favorite priest. Beatriz must
still be kept from his sight. The war once begun, he will hence have
enough to glut his passions without thinking of the white woman. It will
go hard with me if some lucky blow may not put an end to him. Then,
Tolta, you are supreme.”
So musing, pleased at the opportunity that offered for catching Hewahewa
in the same net which he had been spreading, and not doubting but that
in a few hours he should return successful from the pursuit, he apprised
his most trusty partisans that he had need of their services, and without
letting them know his object until fairly upon the road, he made all
possible haste to come up with the fugitives. Trained to forest warfare,
his men once upon the route found no difficulty in tracking, even by
the uncertain light of the moon, the party in advance, whose progress,
encumbered as it was with women, was necessarily much slower than their
own.
While Tolta was pursuing Olmedo, Hewahewa, surprised at not finding his
daughter and Beatriz at his own house, was on his return to the fortress
to learn further tidings of them. His people knew only that they were
missing, and that a party of women had left quite early in the day in
that direction. They supposed that their mistress, curious to witness the
spectacle, had secretly gone for that purpose. The high-priest arrived
at the stronghold in about an hour after Tolta had left, presuming he
should have no difficulty in detecting Liliha through any disguise. He
anxiously sought for her among the different groups that were prolonging
their carousings into the morning, and searched every house, but equally
in vain. At last he went to the temple, though believing it impossible
that she could have braved the terrors of the tabu, either from curiosity
or to gratify the white woman. He was more astonished than even Tolta
at its desertion, and could scarcely credit his sight. The heiau was a
complete solitude. Its foul offerings polluted the night air, and sent up
their reeking incense to impish idols, unwatched by human eyes. Excited
as his feelings were for the safety of the only being he loved, never had
the gloomy precincts of the sacred enclosure and its disgusting rites
appeared to him as they did now. He was repelled and disgusted, and as he
recalled the words and resolute self-denial of Olmedo, he felt disposed
to proclaim the whole a delusion. But the thought was only momentary. As
he discovered the absence of Olmedo, he remembered what the white priest
had told him of the proffered treachery of Tolta, and he suspected that
Olmedo might have relented at the last moment and consented to his plans.
Liliha no doubt had been seduced to conduct Beatriz to the fortress
in disguise, and the whole party had fled with the guards. Instead,
therefore, of surprising Kiana, that chieftain, led by Tolta, would
shortly be down upon them with all his force. Enraged at the abduction
of his daughter, which he attributed to the Mexican, and hoping to defeat
his intentions, he hurried to Pohaku, and related the circumstances and
his conclusions.
That chief was still engaged with the sorcerers, and as the auguries had
not improved, his temper was in its most savage mood. He heard, however,
without interrupting, the story through.
Starting up, he roared rather than spoke, “The lying hound, the whelp of
a wild dog—no marvel that the sacred signs failed before his false eyes.
Arm ye, all, and pursue the traitor. My richest valley shall be the prize
of his capturer—off men to the hunt, but leave him to be dealt with by
me. He who lags behind shall feel my spear.”
Clutching his weapons he rushed out, followed by the fiercest and most
resolute of his retainers, who, eager to win the reward, tumultuously
pushed forward; but Pohaku, maddened by his abortive witchcraft, and
the deceit of his tempter, soon outstripped them all, and intent upon
revenge, went on at a pace to which few of his men were equal.
Hewahewa perceived that Tolta had not gone alone, as many able fighting
men were missing. He concluded, therefore, that he had partisans, and
would make fight, should he be overtaken before joining Kiana. The fury
of Pohaku might defeat its object, unless sustained by his regular
force. So calling together as many companies of the warriors under their
chiefs, as the debauch had left fit for immediate service, he led them in
military array after Pohaku. Thus it happened that within a few hours,
these different parties, actuated by such conflicting emotions, in wild
chase of or from each other, were on the road to Kiana’s territories.