CAMP SCENE.
"If I must, dear Senor General--I will be good, I will, indeed; but my
heart will break to leave Carlos, and the camp, and you, Senor General."
"My dear child,--my dear young lady, what pleasure for me to keep you
here! the first sunshine of the war, it came with you, Senorita
Margarita. Nevertheless, duty is duty; I should be wanting in mine, most
wofully and wickedly wanting, if I allowed you to remain here, in hourly
danger, when a few hours could place you in comparative safety. Perfect
safety, I do not promise. Where shall we find it, even for our nearest
and dearest, in this poor distracted country? But with Don Annunzio and
his family you will be safe at least for a time; whereas here--" The
General looked around, and shrugged his shoulders, spreading his hands
out with a dramatic gesture. "The Gringos have learned the way to our
mountain camp; they will not forget it. Another attack may come any
night; our camp is an outpost, placed of purpose to guard this position,
which must of necessity be one of danger. To have women with us--it is
not only exposing them to the terrible possibilities of war, but--"
He paused. "I see!" cried Rita. "I see! you are too kind to say it, but
we are a burden upon you. We make harder the work; we are an
encumbrance. Dear Senor General, I go! I fly! Give me half, a quarter of
an hour, and I am gone. Never, never, will I be in the way of my
country's defenders; never! Too long we have stayed already; Manuela
shall make on the instant our packets, and in a little hour you shall
forget that we were here at all."
The good General cried out, "No! no! my dear child, my dear senorita;
cease these words, I implore you. You cut me to the heart. Consider the
help that you have brought to us; consider the nursing, the tender care
that you and the wife of Valdez have given to our sufferers, in the
rancho there. Never will this be forgotten, rest assured of that.
But--it is true that you must go; yet not too soon. This evening, when
the coolness falls, Don Carlos, with a chosen escort, will conduct you
to the residence of Don Annunzio. There, I rejoice to think that you
will find, not luxury, but at least some few of the comforts of ordinary
life. Here you have suffered; your lofty spirit will not confess it, but
you have--you must have suffered, delicate and fragile as you are, in
the rough life of a Cuban camp. Enough! The day is before you, dearest
senorita. I pray you, while it lasts, make use of me, of all that the
camp contains, in whatever way you can imagine. I would make the day a
pleasant one, if I might. Command me, dear senorita, in anything and
everything. The camp is yours, with all it contains."
He bowed with courtly grace, and Rita courtsied and then turned quickly
away, to hide the tears that would come in spite of her. It was a keen
disappointment. When Carlos told her that morning that she must leave
the camp, she had refused pointblank. A stormy scene followed, in which
the old Rita was only too much in evidence. She raged, she wept, she
stamped her little foot. She was a Cuban, as much as he was; she was a
nurse, a daughter of the army; no human power should drive her from the
ground where she was prepared to shed her last drop of blood for the
defenders of her country. Now--a few kind, grave words from a
gray-haired man, and all was changed. She was not a necessity, she was a
hindrance; she saw that this must be so; the pain was sharp, but she
would not show it; she would never again lose her self-control, never.
Carlos should see that she was no longer a child. He had called her a
child, not half an hour ago, a naughty child, who was making trouble for
everybody. Well--Rita stood still; the thought came over her
suddenly,--it was true! she had been childish, had been naughty. Suppose
Margaret or Peggy should behave so, stamping and storming; how would it
seem? Oh, well, that was different. Their blood was cool, almost cold.
It flowed sluggishly in their veins. She was a child of the South; it
was not to be expected that she should be like Margaret. Yes! but--the
thought would come, troubling all her mind; suppose Margaret were here,
with her calm sense, her cheerful face, and tranquil voice; would not
she be of more use, of more help, than a girl who could not help
screaming when she was in a passion?
These thoughts were new to Rita Montfort. Full of them, she walked
slowly to her hut, with bent head, and eyes full of unshed tears.
Meanwhile, the good General went back to his tent, where Carlos awaited
him with some anxiety.
"Well?" he asked, as the gray head bent under the tent-flaps.
"Well," responded his commander. "It is very well, my son. The
senorita--she is adorable, do you know it? Never have I seen a more
lovely young person! The senorita is most reasonable. She comprehends;
she understands the desolation that it is to me to send away so
delightful a visitor; nevertheless--she accepts all, with her own
exquisite grace."
Carlos shrugged his shoulders; that same exquisite grace had flashed a
dagger in his eyes not ten minutes before, vowing that it should be
sheathed in the owner's heart before she left the camp; but it was not
necessary to say this to the General. Carlos was an affectionate
brother, and was honestly relieved and glad to find that Rita had come
to her senses. He thanked General Sevillo warmly for his good offices,
and, being off duty, went in search of his sister, determining that he
would make her last day in camp a pleasant one, so far as lay in his
power. He found Rita sitting sadly in the door of her hut, watching
Manuela, who was packing up their belongings, unwillingly enough.
Manuela had enjoyed her stay in camp greatly, and thought life would be
very dull, in comparison, at Don Annunzio's cottage; but there was no
escape, and the white silk blouse and the swansdown wrapper went into
the bag with all the other fineries.
"Come, Rita," said Carlos, taking his sister's hand affectionately;
"come with me, and let me show you some things that you have not yet
seen. You must not forget the camp. Who knows? Some day you may come
back to pay us a visit."
Rita shook her head, and the tears came to her eyes again; but she drove
them back bravely, and smiled, and laid her hand in her brother's; and
they passed out together among the palm-trees.
Manuela looked after them, and laid her hand on her heart; it was a
gesture that she had often seen her mistress use, and it seemed to her
infinitely touching and beautiful. "_Ohime_," sighed Manuela. "War is
terrible, indeed! To think that we must go away, just when we are so
comfortable. But where, then, is this idiot? Pepe! When I call you, will
you come, animal? Pepe!"
The thicket near the rancho rustled and shook, and Pepe appeared. This
young man presented a different figure from the forlorn one that had
greeted the two girls on their first arrival at the camp. His curly hair
was now carefully brushed and oiled. The scarlet handkerchief was still
tied about his head, but it was tied now with a grace that might have
done credit to the most dandified matador in the Havana ring. His jacket
was neatly mended; altogether, Pepe was once more a self-respecting,
even a self-admiring youth. Also, he admired Manuela immensely, and lost
no opportunity of telling that she was the light of his eyes and the
flower of his soul. He was now beginning some remarks of this
description, but Manuela interrupted him, laying her pretty brown hand
unceremoniously on his lips.
"For once, Pepe, endeavour to possess a small portion of sense," she
said. "Listen to me! We must leave the camp."
"How then, marrow of my bones! Leave the camp? You and I?"
"I am speaking to a monkey, then, instead of a man? The use, I ask you,
of addressing intelligent remarks to such a corporosity? My mistress and
I, simpleton. This General of yours drives us from his quarters; he
begrudges the morsel we eat, the rude hut that shelters us. Enough! we
go; even now I make preparation. Pull this strap for me, Pepe; at least
you have strength. Ah! If I were but a great stupid man, it would be
well with me this day!"
"But well for no one else, my idol," said Pepe, tugging away at the
strap. "Desolation and despair for the rest of mankind, Rose of the
Antilles. Accidental death to this bag! why have you filled it so full?
There! it is strapped. Manuela, is it possible that I live without you?
No! I shall fall an easy victim to the first fever that comes; already I
feel it scorching my--"
"Oh, a paralysis upon you! Can I exercise my thoughts, with the chatter
of a parrot in my ears? Attend, then, Pepe,--you will miss me a little,
will you? Just a very little?"
Pepe opened his mouth for new and fiery protestations, but was bidden
peremptorily to shut it again.
"I desire now to hear myself speak," said Manuela. "I weary, Pepe, for
the sound of my own poor little voice. Listen, then! These days I have
been here, and you have never asked me what I brought with me for you;
brought all that cruel way from the city. I knew I should find you
somewhere, my good Pepe; or, if not you, some other friend, some other
good son of Cuba. I thought of you, I remembered you, even in the rush
of our departure. See! It is yours. May it bring you fortune!"
She handed him a little packet, neatly folded in white paper, and tied
with a crimson ribbon. Receiving it with dramatic eagerness, Pepe opened
it and looked with delight at its contents.
"A _detente_!" he cried. "Manuela! and the most beautiful that has been
seen upon the earth. This is not for me! No! Impossible! The General
alone is worthy to wear this object of an elegance so resplendent."
Reassured on this point, he proceeded to pin the emblem on his jacket,
and contemplated it with delighted pride. It was a simple thing enough;
a square of white flannel the size of an ordinary needlebook, neatly
scalloped around the edge with white silk. In the centre was embroidered
a crimson heart, and under it the words, "_Detente! pienso en ti!_" ("Be
of good cheer! I think of thee!")
"And did you really think of me, Manuela?" cried the delighted Pepe.
"Did you, bright and gay, in the splendid city, think of the lonely
soldier?"
"Yes, I did," said Manuela, "when I had nothing else to do. And now you
may go away, Pepe, I am busy; I cannot attend to you any longer."
"But," said Pepe, bewildered, "you called me, Manuela."
"Yes; to strap my bag. It is done; I thank you. It is finished."
"And--you have given me the _detente_, moon of my soul!"
"Then you cannot complain that I never gave you anything. And now I give
you one thing more,--leave to depart. _Adios,_ Don Pepe!" and she
actually shut the door of the hut in the face of her astonished adorer,
who departed muttering strange things concerning the changeableness of
all women, and of Manuela in particular.
Meanwhile, Rita and Carlos were wandering about the camp, and Rita was
seeing, as her brother promised, some things that were new to her, even
after a stay of nearly a week. She saw the kitchen, or what passed for a
kitchen,--a pleasant spot under a palm-tree, where the cook was even
then toasting long strips of meat over the _parilla_, a kind of
gridiron, made by simply driving four stakes, and laying bits of wood
across and across them, then lighting a fire beneath.
"But why does it not burn up, your _parilla_?" asked Rita of the long,
lean, coffee-coloured soldier, picturesque and ragged, who was turning
the strips with a forked stick.
"Pardon, gracious senorita, it does burn up; not the first time, nor
perhaps the second, but without doubt the third."
"And then?"
"And then,--it is but to build another. An affair of a moment,
senorita."
"But does not the meat often fall into the fire when it breaks?"
"Sufficiently often, most noble. What of that? It imparts a flavour of
its own; one brushes off the ashes--soldiers do not dine at the Hotel
Royal, one must observe. May I offer the senorita a bit of this
excellent beef? This has not fallen down at all, or at most but once,
one little time."
Rita thanked him, but was not hungry. At least she would have a cup of
_guarapo_, the hospitable cook begged; and he hastened to bring her a
cup of polished cocoanut shell, filled with the favourite drink, which
was simply hot water with sugar dissolved in it. Rita took the cup
graciously, and drank to the health of the camp, and to the freedom of
Cuba; the cook responded with many bows and profuse thanks for the
honour she had done him, and the brother and sister passed on.
"There are some good bananas near here," said Carlos; "little red ones,
the kind you like, Rita. I'll fill a basket for you to take with you;
Don Annunzio's may not be so good."
They were making their way through a tangle of tall grass and young
palm-trees, when suddenly Rita stopped, and laid her hand on her
brother's arm.
"Look!" she said. "Look yonder, Carlos! The grass moves."
"A snake, perhaps," said Carlos; "or a land-crab. Stand here a moment,
and I will go forward and see."
He advanced, looking keenly at the clump of yellowish grass that Rita
had pointed out. Certainly, the grass did move. It quivered, waved from
side to side, then seemed to settle down, as if an invisible hand were
pulling it from below. Carlos drew his machete, and bent forward;
whereupon a loud yell was heard, and the clump of grass shot up into the
air, revealing a black face, and a pair of rolling eyes.
"What is it?" cried Rita, in terror. "Carlos, come back to me! It is a
devil!"
"Only a scout!" said her brother, laughing. "One of our own men on
outpost duty. Have peace, Pablo! your hour is not yet come."
"_Caramba!_ I thought it was, my captain!" said the negro scout,
grinning. "Better be a crab than a Cuban in these days."
He was a singular figure indeed. From head to waist he was literally
clothed in grass, bunches of it being tied over his head and round his
neck and shoulders, falling to his thighs. A pair of ragged trousers of
no particular colour completed his costume. A more perfect disguise
could not be imagined; indeed, except when he lifted his head, he was
not to be distinguished from the clumps and tufts of dry grass all about
him.
"Pablo is a good scout!" said Carlos, approvingly. "No Gringo could
possibly see you till he stepped on you, Pablo; and then--"
"And then!" said Pablo, grinning from ear to ear; and he drew his
machete and went through an expressive pantomime which, if carried out,
would certainly have left very little of Gringo or any one else.
"Is your post near here? show it! The senorita would like to see how a
Cuban scout lives."
Pablo, a man of few words, gave a pleased nod, and scuttled away through
the bush, beckoning them to follow. Rita, stepping carefully along,
holding her brother's hand, kept her eyes on the scout for a few
moments; then he seemed to melt into the rest of the grass, and was
gone. A few steps more, and they almost fell over him, as his black face
popped up again, shaking back its grassy fringes.
"Behold the domicile of Pablo!" he said, with a magnificent gesture.
"The property, with all it contains, of the senorita and the Senor
Captain Don Carlos."
Brother and sister tried to look becomingly impressed as they surveyed
the domain. Close under a waving palm-tree a rag of brown canvas was
stretched on two sticks laid across upright branches stuck in the
ground. Under this awning was space for a man to sit, or even to lie
down, if he did not mind his feet being in the sun. A small iron pot,
hung on three sticks over some blackened stones, showed where the
householder did his cooking; a heap of leaves and grass answered for bed
and pillows; this was the domicile of Pablo.
Breaking a twig from a neighbouring shrub, the scout bent over the pot,
and speared a plantain, which he offered to Rita with grave courtesy.
She took it with equal dignity, thanking him with her most gracious
smile, and ate it daintily, praising its flavour and the perfection of
its cooking till the good negro's face shone with pleasure.
"And you stay here alone, Pablo?" she asked. "How long? you are not
afraid? No, of course not that; you are a soldier. But lonely! is it not
very lonely here, at night above all?"
Pablo spread out his hands. "Senorita, possibly--if it were not for the
crabs. These good souls--they have the disposition of a Christian!--sit
with me, in the intervals of their occupations, and are excellent
company. They cannot talk, but that suits me very well. Then, there is
always the chance of some one coming by--as to-day, when the Blessed
Virgin sends the senorita and the Senor Don Carlos. Also at any moment
the devil may send me a Gringo; their scouts are as plenty as scorpions.
No, senorita, I am not lonely. It is a fine life! In a prison, you see,
it would be quite otherwise."
"But there are other ways of living, Pablo, beside scouting and going to
prison," said Rita, much amused.
"Without doubt! Without doubt!" said Pablo, cheerfully. "And assuredly
neither would befit the senorita. May she live as happy as she is
beautiful, the sun being black beside her. _Adios_, senorita; _adios_,
Senor Captain Don Carlos!"
"_Adios_, good Pablo! good luck to you and your crabs!" and laughing and
waving a salute, they left the scout nodding his grass-crowned head like
a transformed mandarin, and went back to the camp.