THE BLOOD OF THE PULIDOS
The two troopers came back into the room. They had searched the house
well, they reported, invading every corner of it, and no trace had been
found of any person other than Fray Felipe's native servants, all of
whom were too terrified to utter a falsehood, and had said they had
seen nobody around the place who did not belong there.
"Ha! Hidden away well, no doubt," Gonzales said. "_Fray_, what is that
in the corner of the room?"
"Bales of hides," Fray Felipe replied.
"I have been noticing it from time to time. The dealer from San Gabriel
must have been right when he said the hides he purchased of you were
not properly cured. Are those?"
"I think you will find them so."
"Then why did they move?" Sergeant Gonzales asked. "Three times I saw
the corner of a bale move. Soldiers, search there!"
Fray Felipe sprang to his feet.
"Enough of this nonsense!" he cried. "You have searched and found
nothing. Search the barns next, and then go! At least let me be master
in my own house. You have disturbed my rest enough as it is."
"You will take a solemn oath, _fray_, that there is nothing alive
behind those bales of hides?"
Fray Felipe hesitated, and Sergeant Gonzales grinned.
"Not ready to forswear yourself, eh?" the sergeant asked. "I had a
thought you would hesitate at that, my robed Franciscan! Soldiers,
search the bales!"
The two men started toward the corner. But they had not covered
one-half the distance when Señorita Lolita Pulido stood up behind the
bales of hides and faced them.
"Ha! Unearthed at last!" Gonzales cried. "Here is the package Señor
Zorro left in the _fray's_ keeping! And a pretty package it is! Back to
_carcel_ she goes! And this escape will but make her final sentence the
greater!"
But there was Pulido blood in the _señorita's_ veins, and Gonzales had
not taken that into account. Now the _señorita_ stepped to the end of
the pile of hides, so that light from the _candelero_ struck full upon
her.
"One moment, _señores_!" she said.
One hand came from behind her back, and in it she held a long, keen
knife such as sheep skinners used. She put the point of the knife
against her breast, and regarded them bravely.
"Señorita Lolita Pulido does not return to the foul _carcel_ now or at
any time, _señores_!" she said. "Rather would she plunge this knife
into her heart, and so die as a woman of good blood should! If his
excellency wishes for a dead prisoner, he may have one!"
Sergeant Gonzales uttered an exclamation of annoyance. He did not doubt
that the _señorita_ would do as she had threatened, if the men made
an attempt to seize her. And while he might have ordered the attempt
in the case of an ordinary prisoner, he did not feel sure that the
governor would say he had done right if he ordered it now. After all,
Señorita Pulido was the daughter of a don, and her self-inflicted death
might cause trouble for his excellency. It might prove the spark to the
powder magazine.
"_Señorita_, the person who takes his or her own life risks eternal
damnation," the sergeant said. "Ask this _fray_ if it is not so.
You are only under arrest, not convicted and sentenced. If you are
innocent, no doubt you soon will be set at liberty."
"It is no time for lying speeches, _señor_," the girl replied. "I
realize the circumstances only too well. I have said that I will not
return to _carcel_, and I meant it--and mean it now. One step toward
me, and I take my own life!"
"_Señorita_--" Fray Felipe began.
"It is useless for you to attempt to prevent me, good _fray_," she
interrupted. "I have pride left me, thank the saints! His excellency
gets only my dead body, if he gets me at all."
"Here is a pretty mess!" Sergeant Gonzales exclaimed. "I suppose there
is nothing for us to do except retire and leave the _señorita_ to her
freedom!"
"Ah, no, _señor_!" she cried quickly. "You are clever, but not clever
enough by far. You would retire and continue to have your men surround
the house? You would watch for an opportunity, and then seize me?"
Gonzales growled low in his throat, for that had been his intention,
and the girl had read it.
"I shall be the one to leave," she said. "Walk backward, and stand
against the wall, _señores_! Do it immediately, or I plunge this knife
into my bosom!"
They could do nothing except obey. The soldiers looked to the sergeant
for instructions, and the sergeant was afraid to risk the _señorita's_
death, knowing it would call down upon his head the wrath of the
governor, who would say that he had bungled.
Perhaps, after all, it would be better to let the girl leave the house.
She might be captured afterward, for surely a girl could not escape the
troopers.
She watched them closely as she darted across the room to the door. The
knife was still held at her breast.
"Fray Felipe, you wish to go with me?" she asked. "You may be punished
if you remain."
"Yet I must remain, _señorita_. I could not run away. May the saints
protect you!"
She faced Gonzales and the soldiers once more.
"I am going through this door," she said. "You will remain in this
room. There are troopers outside, of course, and they will try to stop
me. I shall tell them that I have your permission to leave. If they
call and ask you, you are to say that it is so."
"And if I do not?"
"Then I use the knife, _señor_!"
She opened the door, turned her head for an instant and glanced out.
"I trust that your horse is an excellent one, _señor_, for I intend to
use it," she told the sergeant.
She darted suddenly through the door, and slammed it shut behind her.
"After her!" Gonzales cried. "I looked into her eyes! She will not use
the knife--she fears it!"
He hurled himself across the room, the two soldiers with him. But
Fray Felipe had been passive long enough. He went into action now. He
did not stop to consider the consequences. He threw out one leg, and
tripped Sergeant Gonzales. The two troopers crashed into him, and all
went to the floor in a tangle.
Fray Felipe had gained some time for her, and it had been enough. For
the _señorita_ had rushed to the horse and had jumped into the saddle.
She could ride like a native. Her tiny feet did not reach halfway to
the sergeant's stirrups, but she thought nothing of that.
She wheeled the horse's head, kicked at his sides as a trooper rushed
around the corner of the house. A pistol ball whistled past her head.
She bent lower over the horse's neck, and rode!
Now a cursing Sergeant Gonzales was on the veranda, shouting for his
men to get to horse and follow her. The tricky moon was behind a bank
of clouds again. They could not tell the direction the _señorita_ was
taking except by listening for the sounds of the horse's hoofs. And
they had to stop to do that--and if they stopped they lost time and
distance.