DOLORIA
With the first glimpse of dawn I arose and faced the East; my arms out,
my palms up, and across them my rifle as a kind of offering to the day.
I do not know why I did this--this spontaneous though semi-pagan
act--except that on my "island," and in my power, slept the girl I
loved; she whom I had stolen from her watchful tribe, whom I would have
as mate. By all the laws of the wilderness she was mine, and I wanted to
tell someone, to challenge the wild, that these arms and hands and this
rifle would protect her till the end.
A thin mist hung low upon the prairie, a faint tint of salmon touched
the sky, and to my lips sprang the words of that inspiring "Salutation
of the Dawn" which found expression in the Orient many thousands of
years ago:
_Listen to the Exhortation of the Dawn!
Look to this Day!
For it is life, the very life of life.
In its brief course lie all the verities
And realities of your existence:
The glory of action,
The bliss of growth,
The splendor of beauty:
For yesterday is but a dream,
And tomorrow is only a vision;
But today well-lived makes
Every yesterday a dream of happiness,
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore, to this Day!_
Then, as the light increased and the mist began to dissolve, I swept the
prairie in all directions for a sign of enemies. Everywhere was peace.
Assured that Efaw Kotee would never find us here I turned and went to my
lean-to--to the place my lean-to had been before we moved it beside the
spring--gathered up my knick-knacks and repaired to the pool, emerging
half an hour later a more presentable man. After this I built a small
fire of buttonwood and set about preparing breakfast.
But this proved to be a perplexing ordeal. Bilkins had packed in a lot
of stuff that he might have manipulated, though to me it was worse than
Greek. Of course, I could cook up coffee and bacon--the kind of meal
Smilax and I were used to--but Sylvia must never be subjected to that!
And it would be insane of me to go out on the prairie after snipe! There
was nothing for it but prepare a dainty concoction from what we had, so,
wishing heartily that Bilkins had come off in the small boat with me, I
dived into our stores on a tour of inspection.
Tea!--who wanted tea for breakfast! A pot of butter!--appropriate
enough, though it might have been fresher. A can of beans!--worse than
tea. A can of finnan haddie came after this, and several cans that only
Bilkins could have understood. But in the end I carried a number of them
to the fire and had a general opening, arranged them in a row, and began
to cook. The chief trouble was that I did not know which should be done
thoroughly and which merely warmed up. Anyway, I emptied something,
inviting if unpronounceable, into the skillet and as it began to sizzle
it smelt really good. So I crouched lower, stirring vigorously to keep
it from scorching, and thought of the surprise it would be to her--for,
to be quite frank, it was a surprise to me!
Then a voice at my back, making me forget the sizzling stuff, the fire,
the breakfast, said with a note of extreme anxiety:
"Good morning, Jackachobee! Oughtn't Echochee be here by this time? You
don't think any thing's happened to her, do you? I can't whistle like a
plover and had to come to breakfast unannounced. I hope it's ready.
You've seen nothing of those men?"
I did not move under this rapid fire of questions and statements. To the
contrary, I lowered my head and was afraid to move; afraid to face the
rebuke, or the fear, or whatever it would be, that might naturally
follow her discovery of my deception. But more potent than this dread
was the thrill of joy I felt in knowing that she stood close behind me;
that when I turned I should see her there, face to face. Yet the very
thought of turning again started the chill of apprehension. Without
doubt she would wither me like a parched leaf for having played so silly
a part as Indian. I began vigorously to stir the stuff in my skillet
which now had stuck to the bottom and was smelling like the very old
devil. Of course, my face would have been red, anyway--leaning over the
fire as I was!
"Are you keeping anything from me?" she cried, I thought on the verge of
"nerves," so hesitating no longer I arose and turned to her.
"Oh!" she gasped, drawing back and putting one hand to her breast--while
the other, I noticed, fell mechanically to the butt of a revolver swung
to her waist. Her eyes were wide with surprise, as her lips were parted
in fear and utter wonderment. Truly, she was the incarnation of girlhood
standing at bay!
I had known her beauty; I had been astounded by it in the Havana cafe,
in my dream, in the little kodak film of Monsieur's, and last, when she
stood in her doorway less than forty-eight hours before. But here was
something that transcended all that I had previously seen in her.
Perhaps the young sun, golden in the morning atmosphere, cast the spell
as it sought out spun-copper strands amongst her waves of hair; perhaps
the days of anxiety, terminating in a night of unfearful sleep, had put
the dew, the mystery, in her eyes; or it may have been the color,
smouldering beneath the attractive tan on her cheeks and tinting her
pure throat, that held me charmed; or the indefinable spirit of wildness
that showed through a natural poise. I saw, too, in a hazy kind of way,
a most bewitching costume--at least, admirably suited to her: a waist of
olive-drab, not unlike our service shirts but of delicate material, open
at the throat and fitting her snugly; quite a short skirt to match, and
laced tan boots.
"Please don't shoot," I said, trying to smile.
"Where is Jackachobee?" she demanded.
"I'm Jackachobee."
"But you're not an Indian!"
"No, but I really am the friend Tachachobee told you of."
I could see that she was growing more alarmed, and now spoke frankly,
saying:
"I pretended to be a Seminole last night because explanations would have
taken time; and I thought, too, that you'd feel safer with a good Indian
because he's easier to boss than a white man."
Her eyes narrowed, subtly suggesting that she might take this as a
challenge. At last, having looked me over--but not once removing her
hand from the revolver butt--she said, with a little pucker between her
eyebrows:
"I've seen you somewhere. Were you ever in our--in that place over
there?"
Now, of course, I could hardly expect her to see a resemblance between a
chap wearing breeches and puttees in a Florida wilderness and the
dinner-jacketed yachtsman who dined near her table off yonder in Havana.
It would be asking a great deal--although I did feel disappointed.
"No," I answered, "I haven't been in that settlement; but I watched it
from a hiding place all of day before yesterday. You see, I've come two
hundred miles to take you away from it."
"You've come to--to take _me_?" she slowly asked, and I thought the
color began to smoulder again; while from her eyes flashed a look that
might have been a struggle between gratitude, resentment and fear.
Wanting only the first to prevail I continued hastily:
"Yes; I followed ever since you wrote that you were in danger, and I've
sworn not to return to my yacht without you."
"Oh!" she gasped, stepping back and staring at me through the swiftly
changing lights of her awakening. "Surely," she caught her breath again,
"surely you're not the--you _can't_ be!"
"I am," I smiled, holding out my hand. "The man you gave the paper ball
to."
Impulsively she clasped it in both of her own, swaying slightly toward
me and looking her gratitude through eyes brim-full of tears--but the
angels be my witness that spoken words have never been so eloquent!
Then she began to laugh--a little wildly, a little hysterically--so I
said:
"It's all right--you're safe here, absolutely! I watched last night and
there wasn't the slightest sign of anyone. You see, Smilax--that's
Tachachobee, but we call him Smilax because he smiles--well, he and
Echochee purposely led those fellows up the coast, and they'll keep on
leading them any-old-where until it's safe to join us here. It's been
carefully planned out. However, I'll tell you everything
after--after----" I looked ruefully at the shriveled black stuff now
incinerated on the bottom of my skillet, adding: "but there isn't going
to be any after; it's all burned up!"
She had pluckily taken herself in hand by now and, following my dejected
stare, cried:
"Is _that_ our breakfast? Heavens, what a calamity! But show me where
the things are and I'll cook another!"
"You'll soil your fingers," I hesitatingly protested.
"Soil my fingers! Of course, I will; but there's no scarcity of water,
nor of my appetite, either--and we can't possibly eat what you cook!"
"Oh, I don't know," I said, just a little touchily. "I'm a pretty good
sort of a cook, I am!" Often have I noticed how the majority of men get
touchy about their cooking.
"The evidence is convincing," she laughed. "Where do you keep your
stores? Hurry, please do, if you don't want a fainting woman on your
hands. I'm starved!"
Now I saw that some of this was being put on; that it was the slackening
of tightly pulled nerves; so I encouraged her as far as I dared without
being suspected, knowing that it is best to open all vents when one's
feelings have been dangerously pent up. As to my ability to cook!--why,
there were extenuating circumstances governing this breakfast that
should have excused it. Some day I'd surprise her.
I changed that idea quickly enough when she took charge, however, for in
ten minutes there were two or three things sizzling and sending out an
aroma that might have brought Epicurus himself back to life. What's
more, she did not seem to be worrying over them; she did not even seem
particular about stirring them, nor did she burn her fingers, nor get
red in the face and hot, nor suffer any of those agonies that I had
supposed were a necessary part of culinary science.
"You're a wonder," I exclaimed. "Darned if I've ever seen such a swell
cook!"
"Thank you, sir," she tossed her head and mimicked. "I'm glad I please,
sir."
"Like your new place?" I asked, gravely.
"I've seen worse, sir."
"Like your new master, too?" I ventured.
"Marster, is it!" She sent me a look with which there was a most
fetching little curve at the corners of her lips that she seemed unable
to control. "I'll 'ave you understand that queens of the kitchen know no
marster!"
"But you won't be in the kitchen all the time."
"That I will," she replied. "In the woods, all the world's a kitchen!"
"I rather wish it was," I sighed, looking toward the savory skillet and
coffee pot; whereupon she gave the brightest of laughs, telling me to
set the table as things were about ready.
But Smilax and I had never bothered about a table. We did not even
possess a cloth, or napkin, or anything like that. So I cut some palm
leaves, arranging them on the ground; then ransacked the duffle for a
small kit of aluminum plates and cups, with also knives and forks.
Neither had Smilax and I deigned to use this kit, principally because
our meals had been taken on the move. At best palm leaves do not make a
good table, as their ridges cause the dishes to wobble; so in the end we
spread our steaming feast upon the grass.
My word, but that was a breakfast! I don't remember what we had, but it
did taste good. When it was over, right down to the last crumb--for she
had complained of starvation, too--I looked across at her, saying:
"If I can move, at all, and you're willing to go slowly, I'd like to
show you over your new possessions!"
"Right away? Mercy no," she stood up, brushing her skirt. "I'm going to
get a cigarette, and you're going to wash the dishes!"
"But Smilax washes the dishes," I protested.
"And he may be thirty miles from here," she announced.
"Will you come back and watch me?"
"I will if you want me to," she laughed, "but you'll look awfully
silly."
"Then you needn't," I agreed, less reluctantly, "and I'll call in half
an hour. By the way, I've deeded you all the 'island' east of those two
big pines. The other side is mine."
"Thanks. I'll take possession at once." And she left me for her spring
and bailiwick and cigarette--although I never saw her smoking one
before, or after. In a few minutes I heard her calling and,
straightening up with some feeling of alarm, answered:
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing; only don't forget to use very hot water!"
Later we walked to the south-western edge of the "island," so she could
see how it stood in relation to Efaw Kotee's settlement; and I showed
her the fort, purposely exaggerating its ability to withstand a siege
and minimizing its chances of having to do so. We sat down there upon
the turf, where the breeze and shade were refreshing. It was a fortunate
location, also, for keeping an eye on the prairie.
"Have you named this beautiful place of yours?" she asked.
"No; we merely call it the 'island,' after the native fashion. Will you
name it for me--for us? It's half yours, you know."
"Let's call it----" she thought a moment, "oh, let's call it The Oasis;
for that's cool and comfortable and suggests safety from all sorts of
things!"
"The Oasis it is, and we'll put it on the map some day, see if we
don't!"
After a while I told her pretty much everything from the beginning of
our cruise: of Tommy, Monsieur, and Gates, of Smilax, of seeing her in
Havana. I scrupulously avoided any mention of having been bowled over by
her beauty, or of the dream, and was inclined to treat the paper ball
episode with a laugh; but here she interrupted me, saying:
"But I was very serious, really, and scared almost to death. You surely
know I must have been to 've done it! The whole thing came so
suddenly--like a frightful storm!"
"Then you hadn't always been at outs with him--or forbidden him to cross
to your little island?" I asked.
"Mercy, no--that is, not my father. The other men, of course, were on a
footing of servants--to me, at any rate. It was only after we got home
two days ago, after Echochee and I were alone again, that I kept them
away by--by threatening----"
"Don't say what--it hurts me," I interrupted her quickly. "I saw your
wonderful courage from our hiding place."
"Everyone was quite friendly up to the time we reached Havana," she
continued, in a rather forced, even voice. "We were there three days
before your yacht came--though I didn't know it was yours until
today--and that afternoon I'd been up in the Prado with Echochee doing a
lot of shopping. We always bought every conceivable thing on those
semi-yearly trips. Well, when we got back on board my father rather
balked about taking me off again to dinner, but I held him to it because
he'd previously promised. I think that he had grown so sensate to
dangers that he felt one then, but couldn't locate it."
"Because we were anchored so close to you?"
"I don't really know. But it was something. It wasn't a pleasant dinner
from the outset, because I resented his devilish mood and was disgusted
with him for being afraid. That doesn't sound very nice," she added,
half apologetically, "but, you know, there had always been something
subtly antagonistic within me that--oh, I can't express it, but I'd
never felt very close to him, ever since I can remember. It was largely
my fault, I suppose. But I'd had glimpses of his frightfully cruel
nature. Then Echochee, who came to nurse me when I was little, always
hated him, and I adored her--so, of course, her influence counted. You
really think she's coming through all right?"
"Downright sure of it," I declared, in solemn earnest. After a few
moments of silence, I asked gently: "Do you mind telling me more?"
She gave a slight start as though the question had brought her from some
deep thought, but smiled, saying:
"Certainly, I don't. When your two friends left you in the cafe my
father became terribly excited. I asked him what on earth was the
trouble--but smiling, for that was a subterfuge he always demanded of me
in public places--and he whispered that he thought the shorter man was a
police agent from his lost republic."
"Lost republic?"
"Yes. You see, my father had been its President--in South America, you
know--until the revolution compelled us to fly." This was said
resignedly.
"Oh," I murmured. "When was that?"
"Years ago. I just remember being carried off one night in a great
hurry."
"Tell me the rest about Havana?" I asked, trying to appear calm.
"It's all rather awful," she sighed. "I hadn't noticed your friends more
than to get a glimpse of them as they left, but saw you alone at the
table. Pretty soon our captain, Jess,"--she may have given a slight
shudder, I wasn't sure--"came up and verified my father's suspicions,
and then I thought he surely would lose his mind. I was already becoming
frightened, especially as the creature, Jess, impertinently leered at
me, and my father didn't knock him down for it. He had never dared look
at me before, except most deferentially, and suddenly I felt that I was
nearing something awful. I can't explain it. It just came to me all of a
sudden, you know, with desperate certainty, and--and I wanted to run
away."
"Were you trying to tell me that?"
She flushed, but answered steadily:
"Yes. I thought you looked like a man who'd help a girl out of a mean
place."
"By Jove, that's the biggest compliment I've ever had!"
"I only had a chance to write a little," she ignored my outburst, "but
hoped you'd guess and tell your friend, the police agent."
"I didn't guess that," I admitted, somewhat crestfallen. "But we knew
you were in danger."
"I should never have left that cafe if I'd known more myself, then," she
said, tensely. "I'd have stood up and called to you--to every man
there!"
"And I'd have brought you out in spite of hell," I cried. "Don't tell me
there was anything much worse!"
Her cheeks were still aflame with anger, but she smiled, saying in a
lower tone:
"Nothing worse than threats. When we got aboard the yacht my father came
to me and said, point-blank before those men, that--that--oh, I can't!"
She buried her face in her hands--and it was all I could do to keep from
putting my arms about her and whispering that everything was now all
right. But she had started out to tell me, and was determined to see it
through. "He said that he'd promised our captain, that creature Jess,
that I should--should----"
"Never mind," I murmured. "I know about it--he said you'd have to marry
the scoundrel."
"Oh," she exclaimed. "I'd never heard anything so cold-blooded and
damnable in all my life! The creature stood leering at me over his
shoulder, and I knew he'd been using threats because my father,
himself, was almost paralyzed with fear. And then I lost my head--in
blind rage, I suppose. I must have talked like a common fish woman, but
my one desire was to see them cringe. So I told about leaving the
message for you, pretending to 've written a great deal more--twisting
the knife all I knew how, and being thoroughly catty. It must have been
a disgusting exhibition," she gave a sigh of despair, as if for that
uncontrollable outburst of temper.
"I hope you rubbed it in good," I growled.
"Well, I didn't, because my father became so insane with fear that he
actually struck me, and rushed ashore in the frantic hope that you might
not have seen my message. He would have killed you had he met you then.
It was in those few minutes that the little love I ever had for him
turned to loathing--and that's a frightful thing to say about one's
father, so I hope you won't remember it."
"We have a very mutual respect for each other in loathing that
gentleman," I announced. "But tell me quickly--were you safe after
that?"
"Oh, yes, for I began to temporize. Echochee wanted to kill them, of
course--that being her only solution. But I hoped we might manage to
escape if they could be put off a few days."
"And you were in the small boat when they tied on the bomb?"
"Heavens, yes. But I'd no idea it was your yacht, even then--although I
thought I recognized your friends taking pictures the morning we left
Havana, and was about to call to them when my father, always suspicious,
burst into my room."
"It must have been hellish," I growled.
"It was all of that. And especially as always before he'd tried to be
kind--at least, he was extremely deferential. That night at Key West he
and the captain left in a small boat, and when they came back I was
ordered into it. I think he must have been crazy, really, for he said
that he was going to show me what they did to traitors--that was my new
name then, you know--and shoved a package of something in my face. The
captain cursed him for it--and I'd never before heard him treated with
the slightest disrespect, but when I found out what the thing was I
hoped it would blow up and destroy us all. I only thank God that it
didn't go off and kill--my rescuer," she murmured.
"Then you did call that it wasn't fair?"
"I had to protest! Oh, but he was a demon then," she added, and I
clenched my fists, remembering what Gates had said. "But he used to be
kind," she added, sadly, "and I ought to remember him for that, don't
you suppose so? We have a wonderful library on the islands, and when I
was very young he began my education. Do you know," she looked up, "I
still remember my first lesson in grammar? He taught me by the days!"
"Quite a remarkable thing, that, to remember so far back," I smiled,
whereupon she made a little grimace. "How do you mean--by the days?"
"I was taught a tomorrow, not alone because I could recognize today but
because I remembered yesterday, and was shown how these were the past,
present, and future tenses of our lives; that the present participle is
Living, and the infinitive is----"
"To love?" I suggested.
"To live," she said evenly, and I bit my tongue. "He made me study
awfully hard, but I rather liked it as there wasn't much else to do
except play with Echochee, and she became tiresome occasionally. Later
he started me at the piano, and the violin, and I loved to work after
that. For he's quite a remarkable musician, really! I suppose our
library must have a thousand books, and I've read nearly all of
them--besides stacks of the modern ones we always brought from our
semi-annual cruises 'to the world'--as he used to call those trips.
Don't you simply adore Blasco?"
"I suppose you mean Ibanez," I said, rather pleased at being able to air
this familiarity with literary personages.
"Ibanez, then," she casually agreed, "if you prefer calling him by his
mother's name."--And, not knowing upon what hazy path this would lead
me, I laughingly admitted:
"Well, I've only tackled one of his things, and haven't even finished
that yet." Adding, with perhaps a slightly malicious desire to bring her
superior knowledge to bay: "You read him in the original, I suppose?"
"Not freely enough to be quite relaxing. But on our cruise last summer
we got a very good translation in French--really, much better than the
English, I think."
Again I laughed, as a light entered my muddled outlook because of this
astonishing information that accounted for much I had not been able to
reconcile with her isolated life. From the moment she had mimicked the
cook I had been kept in a state of wonderment. I had felt her
superiority; I had marveled at the cultivation that clung about her as a
royal robe. Now it was explained. Music, literature, languages!
"That night you protested about the bomb," I asked, "did you hear me
call?"
Could it have been that some of the animation left her face as she
answered slowly:
"Oh, was it you? I heard someone call to a person named Sylvia."
"But--isn't that your name?"
"Oh," she laughed, "I haven't nearly so pretty a name as that!"
I was crazy to be the judge, but asked, instead:
"Did your--father ever explain why he was afraid of detectives?"
"Nothing more than that he was fearfully hunted and persecuted. When I
was almost a baby he had to run away because of a political plot. He
escaped with me after," her voice lowered, "my mother had been killed by
the revolutionists, and we've been hiding here ever since, awaiting the
message that will bring him back to be President again; although while
the other party is in power its agents would arrest him--and it's been
in power for years. Do you know," she looked at me frankly, "I've never
forgiven him for letting them kill my mother! Throughout all of my
childhood I used to hold indignation meetings with myself and consign
him to every imaginable punishment--both for that, and running away
without avenging her."
She was quiet then. This news of the South American republic showed what
an accomplished liar old Efaw Kotee could be. Very plausible, indeed,
and an adequate excuse for keeping her in a potential prison.
"I fear that I've been terribly outspoken," she said at last, with a
wistful expression that held both laughter and apology.
"You've been wonderful," I whispered, deliberately turning away my head
and gazing out across the prairie. I could not have met her eyes just
then.