IN THE WILDS OF THE ISLAND.
To say that I was alarmed when I found that the intruder in our
sleeping quarters was a bloodhound would be to put the fact very
mildly. I was truly horrified, and a chill shook my frame as I had a
momentary vision of being torn to pieces by the bloodthirsty animal.
My cry awoke Alano, who instantly asked what was the matter, and then
yelled at the beast in Spanish. As the creature retreated, evidently
to prepare for a rush upon us, I sprang to my feet and grasped a short
ladder which led to the roof of the shed.
"Come!" I roared to my chum, and Alano did so; and both of us scrambled
up, with the bloodhound snarling and snatching at our feet. He even
caught the heel of my boot, but I kicked him off, and we reached the
top of the shed in temporary safety. Baffled, the dog ran out of the
shed and began to bay loudly, as though summoning assistance.
"We're in for it now!" I groaned. "We can't get away from the dog, and
he'll arouse somebody before long."
"Well, we can't help ourselves," replied Alano, with a philosophical
shrug of his shoulders. "Ha! somebody is coming now!"
He pointed through the semi-darkness, for it was close to sunrise. A
Cuban negro was approaching, a huge fellow all of six feet tall and
dressed in the garb of an overseer. He carried a little triangular
lantern, and as he drew closer he yelled at the bloodhound in a Cuban
_patois_ which was all Greek to me, but which Alano readily understood.
The dog stopped baying, but insisted upon leading his master to the
very foot of the shed, where he stood with his nose pointed up at us.
There was no help for it, so Alano crawled to the edge of the roof and
told the overseer what was the trouble--that the dog had driven us
hither and that we were afraid of being killed. A short conversation
followed, and then my chum turned to me.
"We can go down now," he said. "The overseer says the dog will not
touch us so long as he is around."
We leaped to the ground, although I must admit I did not do so with a
mind perfectly at ease, the bloodhound still looked so ugly. However,
beyond a few sniffs at my trousers-leg and a deep rumble of his voice,
he offered no further indignities.
"He wants to know who we are," said Alano, after more conversation.
"What shall I tell him?"
"Tell him the truth, and ask him for help to reach your father's
plantation, Alano. He won't know we escaped from Santiago de Cuba
without permission."
Alano did as directed. At the mention of Senor Guerez' name the
overseer held up his hands in astonishment. He told Alano that he knew
his father well, that he had met the señor only two weeks previously,
and that both Alano's father and my own had thrown in their fortunes
with the insurgents!
"Is it possible!" I ejaculated. "My father, too! Why, he must be still
lame!"
"He is," said Alano, after further consultation with the newcomer.
"My father, it seems, had to join the rebels, or his plantation would
have been burned to the ground. There was a quarrel with some Spanish
sympathizers, and in the end both your father and mine joined the
forces under General Calixto Garcia."
"And where are they now?"
"The overseer does not know."
"What of your mother and sisters?"
"He does not know about them either;" and for a moment Alano's
handsome and manly face grew very sober. "Oh, if I was only with them!"
"And if I was only with my father!" I cried. My father was all the
world to me, and to be separated from him at such a time was more than
painful. "Do you think he will help us?" I went on, after a moment of
silence.
The overseer agreed to do what he could for us, although that would not
be much. He was an insurgent at heart, but his master and all around
him were in sympathy with the Spanish Government.
"He says for us to remain here and he will bring us breakfast," said
Alano, as the man turned and departed, with the bloodhound at his side.
"And after that he will set us on a road leading to Tiarriba and gave
us a countersign which will help us into a rebel camp if there is any
around."
We secreted ourselves again in the cane shed, and it was not long
before the overseer returned, bringing with him a kettle of steaming
black coffee, without which no Cuban breakfast seems complete, and some
fresh bread and half a dozen hard-boiled eggs. He had also a bag of
crackers and a chunk of dried beef weighing several pounds.
"Put those in your bags," he said to Alano, indicating the beef and
crackers. "You may find it to your interest to keep out of sight for a
day or two, to avoid the Spanish spies."
The breakfast was soon dispatched, the provisions stored in our
valises, and then the overseer took us up through the sugar-cane fields
to where a brook emptied into a long pond, covered with green weeds,
among which frogs as broad as one's hand croaked dismally. We hurried
around the pond, and our guide pointed out a narrow, winding path
leading upward through a stony woods. Then he whispered a few words to
Alano, shook us both by the hand, and disappeared.
"He says the countersign is 'Sagua'--after the river and city of that
name," explained my chum as we tramped along. "You must wave your hand
so if you see a man in the distance," and Alano twirled his arm over
his head.
Stony though it was in the woods, the vegetation was thick and rank. On
every side were the trunks of decaying trees, overgrown with moss--the
homes of beetles, lizards, and snakes innumerable. The snakes, most of
them small fellows not over a foot long, at first alarmed me, but this
only made Alano laugh.
"They could not harm you if they tried," he said. "And they are very
useful--they eat up so many of the mosquitoes and gnats and lizards."
"But some of the snakes are dangerous," I insisted.
"Oh, yes; but they are larger."
"And what of wild animals?"
"We have nothing but wild hogs and a few deer, and wild dogs too. And
then there are the alligators to be found in the rivers."
The sun had risen clear and hot, as is usual in that region after a
shower. Where the trees were scattered, the rays beat down upon our
heads mercilessly, and the slippery ground fairly steamed, so rapid was
the evaporation. By noon we had reached the top of a hill, and here
we rested and partook of several crackers each and a bit of the beef,
washing both down with water from a spring, which I first strained
through a clean handkerchief, to get clear of the insects and tiny
lizards, which abounded everywhere.
"I can see a house ahead," announced Alano, who had climbed a palm tree
to view the surroundings. "We'll go on and see what sort of a place it
is before we make ourselves known."
Once again we shouldered our traps and set out. The way down the hill
was nearly as toilsome as the upward course on the opposite side had
been, for gnarled roots hidden in the rank grasses made a tumble easy.
Indeed, both of us went down several times, barking our shins and
scratching our hands. Yet we kept on, until the house was but a short
distance off.
It was set in a small clearing; and as we approached we saw a man come
out of the front door and down the broad piazza steps. He was dressed
in the uniform of a captain in the Spanish army.
"Back!" cried Alano; but it was too late, for by pure accident the
military officer had caught sight of us. He called out in Spanish to
learn who we were.
"He is a Spanish officer!" I whispered to Alano. "Shall we face him and
trust to luck to get out of the scrape?"
"No, no! Come!" and, catching me by the arm, Alano led the way around
the clearing.
It was a bad move, for no sooner had we turned than the officer called
out to several soldiers stationed at a stable in the rear of the house.
These leaped on their horses, pistols and sabers in hand, and, riding
hard, soon surrounded us.
"_Halte!_" came the command; and in a moment more my Cuban chum and
myself found ourselves prisoners.