CYRUS HARDING thoroughly understood the importance of trifles, and
possessed a quick insight, which went far to insure the success of
whatever he took in hand. It was because of this he picked Appleby and
Harper up by the roadside in place of driving away with them from the
"Golden Fleece," and seized the opportunity of obtaining a pass from
Colonel Morales. The driver was in his service, and Harding had
discovered one or two facts concerning him which rendered a hint that
his silence would be advisable tolerably effective. Thus no questions
were asked them when they were twice stopped by a patrol, and skirting
Santa Marta in the darkness they reached the San Cristoval hacienda
without attracting undesirable attention.
Next morning Harding also drove back to Santa Marta and purchased
clothing, apparently for himself, so that when his new assistants made
their appearance there was nothing about them that was likely to excite
anybody's curiosity; while the doctor who dressed Appleby's foot was
allowed to surmise that it had been injured in the crushing mill. He
had, it was suspected, liberationist sympathies, so that it was of no
great importance that he was not quite convinced. Appleby, being
installed as general manager, showed a facility of comprehension and an
administrative ability that would probably have astonished any one who
had not Harding's talent for handling men; and when some little time had
passed the latter left him in charge without misgivings while he made a
business visit to New York. As he purposed to return promptly he also
left his daughter with the wife of the Spanish banker at Santa Marta,
and it was about that time the Alcalde of the latter place gave a ball
to celebrate certain successes of the Spanish arms. The Sin Verguenza
had disappeared, and there was at least every outward sign of
tranquillity in that district.
That was how it came about that Appleby and Miss Harding, who had seen a
good deal of each other in the meanwhile sat out in the moonlight on a
veranda of the Alcalde's house overlooking the patio. It was filled with
flowers, and in place of the Sin Verguenza's revelry the tinkle of
guitars, swish of costly dresses, light patter of feet, and decorous
laughter came out from the open windows that blazed with light. Nettie
Harding was also now attired as became her station, and the soft shimmer
of pearls emphasized the whiteness of her neck. Still, she remembered
the last time she had entered that patio, and a faint tinge of color
came into her cheek as her eyes rested for a moment on the veranda above
them. As it happened, Appleby, without intending it, met her eyes a
moment later, and each realized what the other's thoughts were. The man
turned his head suddenly, but he felt he could not gaze across the patio
indefinitely, and when he looked round again he saw the girl had laid
her fan upon her knee and was regarding him curiously.
"There is a difference, is there not?" she said.
Appleby sat still, feeling distinctly uncomfortable, and wondering what
was expected of him, though he was not altogether astonished, because he
knew Nettie Harding's spirit.
"Yes," he said. "The place is a good deal prettier now. These folks have
quite an artistic taste, you know."
The girl laughed softly. "Oh yes. Still, do you never come out of your
shell? We, as you may have noticed, are rather fond of doing so, and at
least occasionally say what we think."
Appleby hoped he appeared unconcerned, for, though he knew Miss Harding
could be daring, he could not quite decide whether she had quite
understood the position on that eventful night, and hoped she had not.
"The difference you mention is at least to my advantage," he said. "You
may remember that I was a ragged outcast then."
"And now, I think, you are on the way to prosperity. You have made a
good friend--Mr. Appleby."
Appleby started. He had felt it incumbent on him to give Harding an
outline of his story, and had, at the latter's recommendation, applied
for a cedilla personale, or certificate of nationality, which it was
desirable for aliens to possess just then in his own name; but it had
not occurred to him that Harding might be communicative. Still, a
curious friendship or camaraderie, of a kind that would have been
scarcely possible in England, had sprung up between him and the girl,
and he saw that she expected something of him.
"I hope I have made two," he said. "Indeed, I fancy I owe the
improvement in my affairs to the second one."
"Wouldn't it be more flattering to consider how much was due to your own
abilities?"
Appleby laughed. "I was never considered clever, but I am not quite a
fool. There is, one surmises, no scarcity of talented young Americans,
and I fancy a good many of them would be glad to serve Cyrus Harding.
Still, I don't know anybody I would sooner take a kindness from."
"You will have to deserve it, and that implies a question. The Sin
Verguenza may come back again?"
"You want the question answered?" said Appleby.
"Yes," said Nettie. "There are disadvantages in a divided allegiance."
"Well," said Appleby slowly, "I hope the decision I think you are
alluding to will never be forced on me, for I have had sufficient of the
Sin Verguenza. While I take Cyrus Harding's money I accept the
obligation that goes with it; but when I was starving, and did not know
where I would be safe from the cazadores, the Sin Verguenza fed me, and
I think I owe them something."
Nettie Harding smiled and shook her head reproachfully, but there was a
little gleam in her eyes. "They fed you!" she said. "Now, there are men
in my country who would have expressed themselves much more
artistically. Still, you would have felt ashamed, wouldn't you, if you
had given yourself away? Do you know there is one reason why you made a
second friend? You are like Julian, and when you meet him you will have
a third who will, though he may not tell you so eloquently, remember
what you have done for him."
Appleby sat silent, as he usually did when in doubt. He was not a vain
man or apt to lose his head, while the one woman he might have fallen in
love with was far away in England; but he knew who Julian was, and
wondered whether Miss Harding had meant to supply him with a useful
hint. In the meanwhile the swish of dresses, patter of feet, and tinkle
of guitars grew louder, and drowned the soft splashing of the fountain
among the flowers.
"That sounds very pretty," he said. "Have you noticed that there is
something curious but alluring in Spanish music? They got it from the
East, I think."
Nettie laughed. "The shell fits you very close. Still, you told me you
had made a second friend, and that implies a good deal, I think. That is
why I am going to ask you a question. What brought you out from the old
country? I want to know more than my father does."
She looked him steadily in the eyes, and though Appleby was never quite
sure why he did so he told her. Once or twice she asked an apposite
question, and there was something in her close attention and unexpressed
sympathy that wiled from him more than he had ever meant to communicate
to any one, for Nettie Harding knew her influence and could direct it
well. She sat thoughtfully silent for at least a minute when he had
finished, and then once more looked at him.
"I don't know if you expect appreciation--but I think you were very
foolish," she said.
"No," said Appleby slowly. "Not in this case. You see, he was very fond
of her."
Again the little gleam showed in the girl's eyes, but she shook her
head. "I have paid you too many indirect compliments, though you
naturally did not notice them, to waste any more on you, and I am going
to talk straight," she said. "The Deus ex machina is quite too big a
part for you. To put it differently--why did you meddle with affairs
altogether beyond your comprehension?"
"I think I told you she was very fond of him."
"You didn't," said Nettie. "Still, we are getting considerably nearer
the truth now. Do you know you hit off that girl's character with an
insight I never suspected you had in you? You made me understand her.
And you had seen her for just fourteen days."
"One can come to a conclusion about a man or woman in even a shorter
time."
"Of course! In a good deal less. In one fateful moment--some folks
believe!"
Appleby saw the little mocking smile fade from the girl's lips and
something he could not quite fathom in her eyes, though it in a fashion
suggested comprehension and sympathy. If he was right, Miss Harding's
penetration appeared astonishing. He would not, however, betray himself,
and his voice was even when he said, "You have not shown me yet where I
was mistaken."
"In trying to bring folks together who were best apart; and when you
thought she was fond of him you were wrong."
"No," said Appleby doggedly.
Nettie laughed in a curious fashion. "She does not know your friend as
you do, for you gave him away by the excuses you made for him. The girl
you have pictured to me could never be fond of that kind of man. She is
in love with the man she thinks he is. You can appreciate the
difference, but she will find him out sooner or later."
Appleby started. "No," he said. "I think he will tell her, and she will
forgive him; though he did nothing very wrong."
"That man will never tell her--or speak a word to clear you. Still, I
think you can do without friends of that kind. You have good ones in
this country."
Appleby was glad that he was relieved of the necessity of answering,
because the banker's wife waddled out, clad in black from heel to crown--
for she wore a lace mantilla there--with powdered face, into the veranda;
and since the camaraderie that existed between him and the girl was not
likely to be understood or appreciated by a lady of Castilian extraction
he went away. He also wanted to think, and descending to a nook of the
patio where there was a seat lighted a cigar.
If Miss Harding was right, and he had seen already that she was a young
woman of singular penetration, he had made his sacrifice--which had,
however, not cost him very much--in vain; but what disconcerted him was
the fact that she had forced the truth he had strenuously striven to
close his eyes to upon him. Still, even that, he told himself, did not
count for very much just then. Even if she did not love Tony, Violet
Wayne was patrician to her finger tips and he an outcast adventurer.
That was a very convincing reason why he should think no more of her,
and yet even then her face rose up before his fancy and would not be
driven away. It was almost a relief when he heard a step behind him, and
turning sharply saw a little olive-faced officer in tight green uniform
smiling at him.
"You do not find the women of this country sympathetic--though you dance
our dances well?" he said.
Appleby was on his guard, and regretted he had figured in the many-
stepped dances he had been taught at Algeciras at all, for he had
hitherto deemed it wise to evince no close acquaintance with Castilian
customs; and Espada Morales had very keen eyes.
"That is a little astonishing, unless it is the national courtesy which
prompts you to tell me so," he said.
Morales shrugged his shoulders. "The nice articulation of our 'jota' and
'zeta,' which are embarrassing to strangers, is even more astonishing.
One does not overcome that difficulty in the two months you have spent
in this country. Still, what is that to me? It is not my business to
inquire where my friends acquired Castilian."
Appleby wondered whether this was meant as a hint that the prosecution
of such an inquiry might not be desirable to him. He had seen the
Colonel Morales twice in battle, and while he had little fear of
recognition in his present guise had been told a good deal which by no
means pleased him about the man. Morales had, it was believed, the scent
of a sleuth-hound and the jaguar's voracity.
"It is at least an honor to be counted among a distinguished soldier's
friends," he said.
Morales made a little gesture of deprecation. "Soldiering is an ill-paid
trade, and you others are to be envied," he said. "This is why I appeal
to you as the Senor Harding's superintendent and a well-wisher of Spain.
Mine is a poor country, and our troops are short of clothing and
necessaries. The loyalists of this district have responded to the appeal
we made them generously, and it seemed only fitting to give you an
opportunity."
Appleby knew that the troops were wretchedly supplied with commissariat
and drugs, and the affair was within the discretion Harding allowed him.
Still, he decided to make an experiment.
"If a hundred dollars would be of any service they will be paid to the
treasurer of the fund," he said.
Morales fixed his dark eyes upon him for a moment, and gratitude was not
exactly what he read in them. Appleby, however, met them steadily, and
the officer smiled.
"Two hundred would be more useful, but we come begging and not making a
demand," he said. "The treasurer is, however, at Havana, and it would be
a convenience if you gave the silver to me."
"Well," said Appleby, "I will give you one hundred dollars."
Morales expressed his thanks, but he did not go away. Indeed, Appleby
felt that he was watching him covertly as he took out a cigar.
"There is another affair in which you could be of service to me," he
said. "We have all our little shortcomings, and I have been unfortunate
at the Casino. What would you? One has to ingratiate himself with these
Cubans, and I have lost a good deal of money. Holding command as I do, I
cannot ask one of them for a loan."
"Would that be a great disadvantage?" said Appleby.
Morales smiled again, not altogether pleasantly. "They might lend under
fear of reprisal, which would be distasteful to me. Men's tongues, my
friend, are very censorious in this country; but one could confide in
your discretion, and I should be grateful if you could show me how to
negotiate a small loan until the Administration remembers that our pay
is due."
Appleby sat silent a space, for he appreciated the delicacy of the
officer's hint. Morales had, however, made his horseleech nature
tolerably plain already, and Appleby decided to stand firm.
"I will mention it to Mr. Harding when he comes back," he said.
"To wait would be especially inconvenient to me."
"Still, that is the most I can do," said Appleby.
Morales shrugged his shoulders, discoursed about the dancing, and then
moved away; but Appleby realized that his firmness would probably cost
him something. He knew that Morales would for several reasons be chary
of any attempt to hamper the prosperity of the San Cristoval hacienda,
but he felt that its manager might be made to feel his resentment
individually. Still, he was in Harding's service, and that fact carried
an obligation with it.
Some time had now passed since he had left the dancers and deciding that
it would be advisable to make another appearance among them he had risen
to his feet, when there was a trampling under the archway that led into
the patio, and three men came into the light. Two of them carried rifles
and wore the cazadores' uniform, but the third was hatless and ragged,
and walked with difficulty, with a strip of hide between his ankles and
his hands lashed behind him. Appleby started a little when he saw him.
The man's face was drawn and haggard, but he was one who had fought well
with the Sin Verguenza.
It also became evident that he saw Appleby and recognized him, for he
looked straight at him with an appeal in his eyes, and then, turning his
head away, plodded apathetically into the patio between his captors.
That alone would probably have decided Appleby. The man had asked for
help, but he had also made it plain that he had no intention of
betraying a comrade; and Appleby knew that while the Castilian has his
shortcomings, they are very seldom evident when he meets his end.
The cazadores led the man towards one of the basement rooms, which
served now and then as a place of detention when the Alcalde desired to
question suspected persons, and thrust him in. Then one came out
grumbling, and stopped his companion as with a gesture he crossed the
patio.
"There is no key, and one of us must stay here," he said. "Now, if I
could have found the little Tomasa we should have had a flask of wine.
There is plenty here to-night."
The other man glanced up at the lighted windows, and Appleby, who
slipped back out of sight into the shadow, saw that he was white with
dust, and surmised that he was correspondingly thirsty.
"There will be no chance of that when we have told the Alcalde," he
said. "It is a misfortune. The wine would have been welcome."
They looked at each other, and then back at the closed door. "That man
can scarcely hobble, and his hands are tied," said one. "Go back and
rattle at the lock, and he will think it is the key. Then if you are
quick you may find Tomasa while I tell the Alcalde."
The soldier went back and did something to the lock with his bayonet,
and then made a sign to his comrade, who went up the stairway. Then he
disappeared through a door which apparently led to the kitchen, and
Appleby, treading softly, slipped forward through the shadows. There was
nobody in the patio now, and the streets were silent, while it only took
him a moment or two to reach the door. In another he had slashed the
man's bonds through, and a ragged object glided silently across the
patio. Appleby stood still a few seconds with beating heart until the
swiftly moving shadow vanished through the arch, and then went up the
stairway in haste, but as softly as he could. He, however, stopped
suddenly when he reached the veranda, for Nettie Harding was leaning
over the balustrade, and the banker's wife sitting in a cane chair
behind her. She saw the question in his eyes and nodded.
"Yes," she said, "I saw you. The Senora Frequilla saw nothing. She is
half asleep. Why did you do it?"
"He would have been shot to-morrow," said Appleby.
The girl laid her hand upon his arm, and led him into the lighted room,
where, as it happened, a dance was just commencing. They took their
places among the rest, and nothing unusual happened for several minutes.
Then there was a shout from the patio and a tramp of feet, and the
dancing ceased. Asking vague questions, the guests streamed down the
stairway, and when Appleby and Nettie Harding, who followed, stopped
among the rest at a turning Morales was standing in the patio very grim
in face beside the Alcalde, with two dusty and evidently very
apprehensive cazadores before him.
"To the cuartel, and tell the Sergeant Antonio to turn out ten men at
once. I will consider your reward to-morrow," he said, and turned to the
Alcalde. "It would be well, senor, if you sent word to the civiles."
Then he smiled at the guests, who made room for him as he approached the
stairway and stopped close by Appleby, who felt the girl's hand tremble
a little on his arm.
"I am sorry that you should be disturbed by this affair," he said; and
Appleby wondered whether it was altogether by chance that the officer's
glance was turned in his direction.
"Two of my men have allowed an Insurgent to escape them, for which they
will be rewarded. It is, however, evident that he had a friend who cut
his bonds, and when we find him that man will also be duly compensated."
The little vindictive flash in the dark eyes was very significant, and
one or two of the guests, Loyalists as they were, moved rather further
out of Morales' way than was necessary as he went back up the stairway.