IN NEED OF HELP
Mrs. Chatterton had no objections to Teneriffe, and so it came about
that one evening she and her niece, who had almost recovered her usual
health, sat upon a hotel balcony in Santa Cruz, looking down upon the
quaint Spanish city. It had lain basking under fierce sunlight all day,
but now the cool shadow of the giant Canadas rested upon it, and its
olive-faced inhabitants came forth to breathe the freshness from the
Atlantic. Garrison officers and somberly clad merchants with their wives
and daughters, strolled up and down the plaza beneath the balcony, while
laughter and merry voices throbbed through the strains of an artillery
band. Near by, the Atlantic swell pulsed whitely on the lava reefs, and
high above the great black cordillera heaved aloft its jagged pinnacles
against the sunset fires.
Lilian Chatterton, however, saw little of all this. She was looking out
across the shimmering Atlantic toward the blue peaks of Grand Canary,
beyond which stretched the coast of Africa. A little black-funneled
steamer was creeping across the sea-plain between.
"That must be the African boat. The flag is going up above the agent's
offices," she said. "She may bring us news. It is a pity that my uncle
is away. He seems distressed about the uncertainty concerning Hilton."
Perhaps Lilian's tone was less indifferent than she wished, for Mrs.
Chatterton watched her keenly before she answered.
"It is hardly surprising. Your uncle is a just man, and never forgets a
benefit. As you must have heard, it was an invention of Hilton's father
which first started them, when both were struggling men, on the way to
success; but Dane died, and the widow, who was never cordial toward my
husband, drew her share out of the business against his advice. She died
comparatively poor when Hilton was young, while your uncle, who still
considers he owes his dead partner a moral debt, tried several means of
discharging it by benefiting his son. Hilton, of whom I am very fond, is
not, however, a person one can readily confer favors upon."
"No," said Lilian, with a trace of coldness in her tone. "You never told
me quite so much before. My uncle is not always quite judicious in the
way he sets about accomplishing his benevolent intentions. But the boat
will soon be in."
Mrs. Chatterton smiled a little.
"He will certainly blame us if we allow any opportunity for obtaining
news to escape, and I must find somebody to take a note off to the
purser. You are tired, Lily, and had better remain here while I go
across to the agent's offices."
Lilian sat leaning back in a basket chair, shrouded from observation by
two tall aloe plants, with her face still turned toward the cost of
Africa. The silver shimmer faded from off the sea, the fires of sunset
died out behind the cordillera, but Mrs. Chatterton did not return, and
her niece waited with hands crossed idly in her lap. It was now some
time since the steamer's anchor had rattled down. Presently, because the
long windows behind her were open, she started at a voice in the
adjoining room. It seemed the voice of one risen from the dead.
"It is impossible!" she thought.
"I have no baggage," the voice rose again. "Going on with the
Southampton boat, due to-morrow. Send across to the offices and book a
berth for me."
Lilian, rising, stood in the open window, and the speaker stared at her
in astonishment.
"I could hardly believe my eyes, Mr. Maxwell," she exclaimed.
Maxwell strode out into the balcony, but his surprise, which vanished
quickly, was surpassed by the girl's. His face was worn and hollow, and
in the failing light he looked strangely frail. A great sense of pity
came upon her.
"You are ill, and I must not keep you standing! Please sit down, because
there is so much I--we all--wish to know," she said, striving to
suppress her eagerness.
"I have been in the African forest," Maxwell replied simply, as though
that were sufficient explanation. "Thank you, but I would rather lean
against the railing here."
As he spoke, he drew out the basket chair, and bent his head with a
gesture of invitation, while the girl, noticing the languidness of his
movements, showed her compassion in her eyes. Maxwell saw the pity, and
smiled wistfully; then as Lilian's gaze met his own, she glanced aside a
moment with a sudden trace of color. She remembered their last meeting,
and there was an awkward silence which Maxwell broke.
"We can at least return to our former status as good friends, can we
not?" he said. "I see you are anxious for my news, and it may be a
painful story; but first I must ask you a question. What fortunate
accident brought you here?"
"I was unwell and ordered south to escape the spring." Seeing the
anxiety in the man's face, Lilian added quickly, "I have recovered now.
My aunt will be here in a few minutes, but Mr. Chatterton has gone
across the island. An Englishman he met invested some money in a
sugar-mill the Spaniards are reconstructing, and he could not resist the
temptation of joining him. My uncle has a weakness for showing other
people how to manage machinery. It is your turn now, but first, where is
your partner?"
In spite of Lilian's intention the last question was put with a
sharpness which surprised the listener.
"He is alive and well, I hope," he answered gravely. "My story will be
longer, but I will try to tell it to you clearly."
The waltz the band played in the plaza below formed a curious
accompaniment to such a tale. After the first few sentences neither of
them, however, heard the music, and Lilian leaned forward with the color
changing in her intent face as she listened. Maxwell suppressed the most
gruesome details, but the narrative would have been startling to any one
of the girl's upbringing. The thunder of the sunset gun brought it to an
abrupt conclusion, and as the long reverberations rolled among the
hills, Lilian rose suddenly and turned upon the speaker. There was
scorn, as well as horror, in her eyes.
"And you left him in that pestilence-stricken camp to be murdered by the
tribesmen--you coward!"
They were equally off their guard, and, for there are occasions when
human nature mocks at all conventional restraint, both had dropped the
mask. When once before they spoke openly it was Maxwell who had laid
bare his heart, and now, though he made a valiant effort, he could not
conceal his astonishment.
"And I never guessed," he said under his breath.
So for a few seconds they stood, with inmost thoughts laid open, face to
face. Maxwell, having revealed the less, first recovered himself.
"I am afraid I have told my story badly, Miss Chatterton," he said. "You
see there was gold enough to excite most men's cupidity lying within our
sight, and that was why we drew lots to determine which should go out
and seek help to secure it. Dane was, for a reason he did not mention,
not only willing, but anxious, to stake his life on the chance of
turning that gold into currency, and the lot fell to me. Being unable to
raise the necessary funds by cable, I am now on my way to England, to
sell my last possessions and pledge whatever in the future may be mine.
Then, if I have to go alone, I am going back into the Leopards' country
to bring my comrade help."
It is possible that few men under the circumstances would have framed
their answer as Maxwell did; but he was in all things loyal, as his
listener recognized. She was once more mistress of herself, but she did
not look at the man as she answered him.
"You must forgive me. What you had to tell must have dissipated my poor
senses. It is even more startling than anything I had imagined," she
said.
"I can hardly forgive myself for telling it so badly," Maxwell answered
gravely. "You had already, I gather, received some news that we were
not exactly prospering. How did it reach you?"
Lilian mentioned the newspaper paragraph, and Maxwell's face grew dark.
"It was evidently the work of our enemy, and done to divert suspicion
from himself in case the tribesmen overwhelmed us, as he hoped. It is
another reason for haste, and if you will excuse me I will go on to the
steamship office to make sure of my berth."
An inspiration dawned upon Lilian.
"I want you to promise that you will not sail without seeing me again,"
she said quickly.
"It is a conditional promise. While I would do anything to please you,
Miss Chatterton, so much depends on my speed that whatever happens I
must catch the steamer. She will land me in England three days before
the West Coast boat, and is expected early to-morrow."
He moved away, and Lilian was left alone, plunged in a whirl of
thoughts, with her eyes still turned toward Africa. But as she sat there
one purpose grew into definite shape, and at last she rose sharply, and
set out in search of Mrs. Chatterton, with determination stamped upon
her face. Lilian was shrewd; she saw that Maxwell might well arrive too
late unless she could hasten the starting of the relief expedition. She
found Mrs. Chatterton presently in the bustling plaza, and the elder
lady turned aside from her English companions after a glance at her
niece. The girl came straight toward her with swift, resolute steps.
"Mr. Maxwell was on board the steamer," she said, with a calmness that
puzzled her aunt. "He has told me all about the expedition, and left
Hilton in deadly peril. Money is needed to extricate him, and Maxwell
is going home to-morrow to obtain it; but I think my uncle would find it
hard to forgive us if we did not let him know immediately. No--we have
no time to waste with these people now. Turn back with me."
The girl passed the friends who advanced to greet her as though she did
not see them, and by the time they reached the door of the hotel Mrs.
Chatterton realized the need for haste.
"My husband must certainly know at once, but it is twenty odd miles to
Oratava alone, and several more from there to the sugar-mill," she said.
"The telegraph office is closed, and you say the mailboat should sail
early to-morrow. It is very unfortunate, but what can we do?"
"There is only one thing possible," declared Lilian. "No one could trust
a Canario with so urgent a message. We must start at once ourselves. We
need not go all the way round by Oratava. There is a bridle-path across
the hills."
"But you are hardly strong enough for such a journey, and we might not
get a carriage to take us there to-night."
"The carriage is entering the plaza now," said Lilian. "Can you not see
that if Mr. Maxwell goes to England he may be too late."
Mrs. Chatterton looked hard at her niece. Lilian's face was very
resolute, but she bore the scrutiny calmly, and the elder lady was not
wholly astonished.
"I will be ready in five minutes," she said, and Lilian, moved by some
impulse, kissed her swiftly.
The five minutes had hardly expired when, with the Canario driver
shouting in warning, a two-horse carriage rolled out of the plaza, and
went rattling up the narrow street. Accustomed as they were to the
eccentricities of British visitors, the sleepy citizens stared at its
occupants, when, with unusual agility, they had leaped out of its way,
for the driver stood upright, lashing his horses until they broke into a
headlong gallop, and the crazy vehicle lurched and bounced over the
uneven stones.
Night had closed in now, and a vault of velvety indigo spangled with
many stars, hung over the long rows of sun-baked walls, which rolled
away behind. A full moon rose slowly over the Atlantic. In front wastes
of scoriae, maize fields, vineyards, rolled upward, ridge beyond ridge,
toward the Titanic wall of lava, nine thousand feet above; but the
climbing road was broad and good, and, if the string-patched harness
held, they might bring Thomas Chatterton news in time.
Lilian retained but a blurred impression of that part of the journey.
They swept past climbing mule teams, and, sometimes on two wheels only,
swung round many curves. Blinding clouds of dust rolled up, and, driven
forward by the breeze from the Atlantic, whirled about them. There were
odd gleams of light, and a howling of dogs, as white-walled dwellings
swept by, then only the clang of iron on lava, and creaking of the
vehicle to break the silence of the desolate hillside, until the driver
howled again as they clattered into old-world Laguna, just sinking into
early sleep. The carriage lurched over the cobbles, sparks blazed up,
white walls and glimmering lattices raced by, and Lilian glanced at her
watch as, while the lathered team swung into swifter stride upon the
level, Laguna receded into the night. Branches of eucalyptus met above,
the road was checkered with shadow, but it was straight and good, and
the driver evidently meant to win the guerdon promised him.
It was cool on the higher levels. The fresh night wind stirred the
passengers' blood, and while the stinging whip-cuts roused the horses to
further effort, the eucalyptus gave place to sugar-cane, vineyards,
cork-trees, and, looming black in the moonlight on the bare hill
shoulders, gnarled pines.
"We have lost no time so far," said Lilian, bending her head over the
moonlit dial of her tiny watch, and almost resenting the attention when
her aunt drew the wrappings closer about her. "Still, it is passing
fast."
The driver was certainly doing his utmost. He stood upright, for the
most part, shouting as he lashed his horses, for the Castilian is not as
a rule merciful to his beasts, and as the road had been lately mended in
places with broken lava the carriage jolted painfully. Lilian, making no
comment, only held fast the tighter, but once her aunt screamed, and it
was fortunate that, startled by her cry, the man checked his horses.
There was a steep grade before them, and when the beasts broke into a
walk he stopped them altogether, and leaped down from his perch. He
glanced at one of the wheels, then cast his hat into the road and kicked
it several times, shook his fist at the surrounding country, and for
nearly a minute poured forth a torrent of sonorous Castilian. It was
well that neither of the listeners wholly understood him.
"What is the matter, and what can he be saying?" asked Mrs. Chatterton,
almost appalled by the man's vehemence; and Lilian answered with a
shudder.
"I am not quite certain, but I fancy that a wheel is coming off."
"_Lo creo_," interjected the Canario. "_Mal rayo!_ I spik good Ynglez.
This jimcraky wheel, which is made of a lost carpenter, she is come
right off."
Putting his shoulder against the vehicle he hurled the wheel down
crashing upon the lava, and then flung one arm aloft, with a tragic
gesture.
"Stop him at once, Lily!" begged Mrs. Chatterton. "The wretched man is
beginning again, and his language positively frightens me!"
"You mustn't!" said Lilian severely, as the Canario's tongue, which had
apparently been dipped in brimstone unloosed itself again. "Stop
immediately! Instead of all that nonsense, try to think of what you can
do!"
"I do nothing. No man do nothing. On three wheel this coche she is not
can go." The driver's gesture expressed despair. "We stop here for all
night, _puede ser_ all to-morrow. We stop a here forever."
"That is absurd," said Lilian sharply. "Is there no blacksmith at
Laguna? Blacksmiths--_hombre de hierro, entiende_? Take one of those
horses out and go for him immediately!"
"_No possible_, _senorita_. The black-a-smeet he sleep at night,"
explained the Canario, hopelessly.
Lilian stamped one little foot.
"It is _no possible_ to waken him? _Escucha Vd_, and please try to
comprehend. If I reach the sugar-mill too late you will be paid exactly
what the Alcalde at Oratava says is your due. If I get there in time,
and not otherwise, you will receive what I promised you. Now take out
one of those horses, and I will help you."
The driver rubbed his forehead, and kicked his hat again. Then he
declaimed a little further; and finally, while Mrs. Chatterton protested
against Lilian's helping him, he proceeded to act upon her suggestion.
The girl struggled with rusty buckle and raw-hide patched with string,
and at last tethered one horse to a branch, while the Canario clattered
off toward Laguna on the other. He had neither saddle nor stirrups, but
that did not matter much to a man of his race.
The two women were left standing in the middle of the lonely road.
"I wish we had never come," wailed Mrs. Chatterton. "Mind that horse
does not bite you, Lily."
"Poor beast," said the girl, stroking the creature's scraggy neck. "He
did his best, and a great deal still depends on him. If that wretched
man does not return soon the waiting will drive me mad."
Mrs. Chatterton found a seat by the wayside. Lilian paced to and fro,
halting only to listen and gaze down the long dusty road. An hour passed
slowly. Still only the rustle of the sugar-cane and the sighing of dark
branches broke the stillness. There was no light visible; and save for
the horse, the two anxious Englishwomen seemed the only living things
upon the mountain-side.
"Can you hear nothing, auntie?" the girl asked; but the elder lady heard
only the drowsy gurgle of water in a distant barranco, and the moan of
the breeze.
"No. There is no sign of any one coming yet; and I am afraid we should
be almost too late if we started now," she said.
Twice again the girl paced up and down in a fever of impatience, then
stood rigidly still, leaning forward a little, for a faint thudding
sound came out of the shadows.
"He is coming at last!"
The man came up at a gallop, with a hammer and a bag of tools, and,
talking volubly, remounted the wheel. Then he lashed his horses
viciously, and they were off, pressing on at a gallop almost to the
divide, where, partly bathed in silver light by the moon, and partly
wrapped in black shadow by the mighty peak, the great horseshoe vale of
Oratava sloped to the Atlantic. Here the driver turned.
"The brake of this coche is also broke. I have ten children, senoras,
and all very small, and if we must go down at the full speed it will be
one more ten shillings for the risk."
Mrs. Chatterton, glancing down toward the lights that twinkled
apparently vertically beneath her, and the glimmering plain of the
Atlantic very far below, somewhat naturally hesitated, and was about to
speak, when Lilian thrust a gold coin into the man's brown palm.
"You shall have more when I come back from Tampena. Only lose no time!"
she urged.
The driver, who had been deluded on various occasions by British
emigrants bound for the Cape, first prudently bit the coin, then piously
crossed himself, after which he lashed the horses, and the carriage
began the long descent like a run-away locomotive or a thunderbolt, as
Mrs. Chatterton afterward said. The road was good, but it dipped in
zig-zags down the steep hillside, and they went round the bends madly
with two wheels in the air; while twice the elder lady held her breath
as a straggling mule team rushed past. She prayed spasmodically that the
ancient harness might not break.
The walnuts gave place to fig-trees, the figs in turn to vines, and
still the straining gear held fast, and the bouncing vehicle hung
together behind the lathered beasts. Then the terraced vines were
replaced by maize, and when the broad leaves of bananas raced up, as it
were, to meet them under the moon, the driver, shouting his loudest,
reined his team in outside a little hill posada.
"Horses and a trusty guide for the sugar-mill!" he roared, beating on
the door. "Here are two mad English senoras with a purse of gold!"