On the following morning, having landed on the soil of Central America,
they started across the Isthmus. Dora rode on a little mule, and the
Professor walked by her side, holding the bridle. Toney and Tom, with
Clarence and Harry, proceeded on foot, Hercules bringing up the rear
with a huge club in his hand. It was wonderful to witness the tender
solicitude of the Professor for Dora. Along the road were a number of
small houses, where the natives sold fruit and coffee to travelers, who
came in crowds after a steamer had arrived at Panama. At these houses
Dora's mule would halt, and the Professor would go in, and come forth
with a nice cup of coffee; and as the young maiden put it to her lips
her beautiful blue eyes would be peeping over the top of the cup at the
smiling face of her escort with a most tender expression. He would then
select the most delicious fruit and hand it to Dora, who would receive
it with a sweet smile, which made some of the rough miners, passing,
imagine that an angel sat on the back of the little mule.
Toney and his companions frequently halted to rest; and Dora's mule was
far in advance of them on the road. When within a short distance of
Cruces, they came to the spot where the anchor lay, near the side of the
road. Here they beheld Dora and the Professor seated on the anchor and
the mule quietly cropping the grass.
"Look yonder!" said Tom. And he started towards the pair seated on the
anchor.
"Come on!" said Toney, with a peculiar look. Tom took the hint, and,
with his companions, continued to walk on in the direction of Cruces.
"All's right!" said Toney, in a whisper, to Tom. "The anchor is the
emblem of hope."
"Do you think he will now get out of Doubting Castle?" asked Tom.
"I know it," said Toney. "Let us move on. Yonder is Cruces."
They stopped at the public house, where Wiggins and his companions found
the unfortunate M. T. Pate washing a bottle. In about an hour the
Professor arrived, leading Dora's little mule by the bridle. The
Professor's face was radiant with happiness; and Dora's cheeks were
covered with a multitude of the most beautiful blushes. Toney and Tom
exchanged looks of peculiar significance.
The young lady rested at the public house; while the Professor walked
with Toney and his companions to the river, where they hired canoes to
convey them to Chagres. While they were bargaining with the negroes who
were to row them down the river, the Professor uttered a number of
jokes, which satisfied Tom that he was going to be an agreeable fellow
again. As they were returning to the public house, the Professor took
Toney aside, and informed him that, while seated on the anchor in the
wood, he had again earnestly entreated Dora to assist him in his search
for domestic bliss and connubial felicity.
"Well," said Toney; "and what was the result?"
"The proposition was decided in the affirmative," said the Professor.
Toney grasped the Professor's hand, and shook it violently.
"Shall I tell Tom?" asked Toney.
"You may, but with the injunction of secrecy," said the Professor.
Tom was informed of the event which had occurred on Pizarro's anchor in
the wood, and he laid hold on the Professor and hugged him.
"Confound it, Tom!" said the Professor. "You hug like a cinnamon bear."
"I can't help it!" said Tom. "I am so glad! And Toney has a hundred
thousand dollars. Hurrah! hurrah!"
"When we get home, let no one know that I have a hundred thousand
dollars," said Toney.
"Why not?" asked Tom.
"I wish the Widow Wild to suppose that I have come home as poor as I was
when I left," said Toney. "I will explain my reasons hereafter, and may
need your assistance."
"Can't I tell Ida?" asked Tom.
"Rosabel and Ida must be informed; but with the injunction of secrecy.
Do you promise to conceal my good fortune?"
"I do; I will say nothing, except by your permission."
On the following day they arrived at Chagres, and took passage for New
York, which city they reached after a pleasant voyage, and on the next
day were in Baltimore. Here the Professor left them, and accompanied
Dora to her home in Virginia. Toney and his friends arrived in Mapleton
at night. They urged Clarence and Harry to remain here until morning;
but the two young men were impatient to reach Bella Vista, and, taking
leave of Toney and Tom, were wafted away in the direction of the homes
from which they had been absent during five long years.
When Clarence Hastings and Harry Vincent approached Bella Vista it was
midnight. In their impatience, each young man had put his head out the
window of a car.
"Good heavens! what means that light?" cried Clarence.
"The town's on fire!" exclaimed Harry.
On rushed the iron horse, and as they entered the town the street was
illuminated by a conflagration.
Around the mansion of Colonel Hazlewood are collected excited crowds of
people. Flames are bursting from the roof, and nearly the whole interior
is in a blaze. The inmates had been aroused by the cry of fire, in the
middle of the night, and all have escaped. No; not all! Where are Imogen
and Claribel? Their shrieks are heard; they are in the burning house,
and surrounded by the crackling flames.
"My child! my child!" cries the gray-haired Colonel Hazlewood in an
agony. He rushes into the building, and attempts to ascend the stairway,
which is on fire. Suffocated by the dense smoke, he falls back
insensible, and is dragged from the door.
"Bring ladders! bring ladders!" is shouted by a number of voices; but no
ladders are at hand.
"Oh, God! oh, God! must they perish? Can nobody save them?" are the
exclamations heard on every side. Several men rush into the house and
are driven back by the smoke and the intense heat. While all stand
still, with horror depicted in their countenances, two men come running
with frantic speed to the spot. In an instant they seem to comprehend
the danger of the young females, whose shrieks are heard from an upper
chamber. Into the midst of the smoke and flames they rush, ascend the
stairway, regardless of the scorching heat, and in a moment are seen
leaping through a window upon the roof of a portico, each holding in his
arms the form of a woman who has fainted. A loud shout goes up from the
crowd. A ladder has been brought, and the two men descend, and rush to
the opposite side of the street with their lovely burdens in their arms,
as, with a terrific crash, the burning roof falls in. Colonel Hazlewood,
recovering from his swoon, staggers across the street to utter his
thanks.
"Harry Vincent!" he exclaimed. And Imogen opens her eyes and beholds her
long-lost lover, while Claribel is still unconscious in the arms of
Clarence Hastings.