THE HAPPY WEDDING DAY.
We will now return to that fateful night when Estella at the very
moment she had thought to become Howard's bride had been torn from her
lover's side by her father and passed over to the care of the wicked
Mazenas.
To her the terrible interruption came so quickly that she scarcely
realized what was occurring. She remembered trying to shield Howard
from her father's wrath, the rapid reports of firearms and confusion in
the darkness afterward, but that was all. When she came to her senses
she was in a negro's hut, and Mazenas was giving directions to an
orderly concerning a wagon that was to take her away. It was then that
Mazenas threatened to strike her if she did not remain quiet, and she
drew her dagger to defend herself.
The orderly helped the lieutenant to disarm her, and it was not long
before they were on the road in the wagon. A large flat boat conveyed
the vehicle over the river, and long ere day broke Estella found
herself a prisoner in the then utterly deserted stone structure.
"Your father told me to take good care of you and I will," smiled
Lieutenant Mazenas, meaningly. "So you were about to marry that
American! I'll put a stop to that for good and without delay."
"Perhaps not," she faintly returned.
"But I will. Do you know that I have your father's written permission
to compel you to marry me?" he went on.
She started, then quickly recovered.
"No man can compel me to marry him."
"We shall see. If you will not consent I will force you to marry me."
"Never!"
"Bah! Estella, you do not know me. We are alone here, and you are in
my absolute power. For your reputation's sake, you should consent to
become my bride."
She turned as white as a ghost at his words, so full of bitter meaning.
She had been standing in the centre of the apartment, but now she
fairly staggered to a seat.
"You--you monster!" she murmured.
"I am no monster, Estella, only a desperate man; one who has sworn to
make you his own, by fair means or foul. You can take your choice. But
mine you shall be--I have sworn it! In twenty-four hours, willing or
unwilling, you shall be my bride! Now I must leave you, but I warn you
to think well over what I have said."
Then he left her, and she sat there, dazed, stupefied, as one who has
listened to a death sentence. He would doom her to a living death!
"Merciful Heaven, protect me!" she moaned. "Oh, why was I not killed in
that dreadful battle that separated me from Howard?"
She had heard a report that Howard had been slain, and she was more
than half inclined to believe it. She had seen him surrounded by his
enemies, and escape seemed impossible.
"Father would have killed him by the sword! Oh, papa, papa, if you
but knew! If you could feel what is in your only child's heart at this
moment, you would not be so cruel!"
Presently she heard a noise below, and looking out of the barred window
she saw that several bodies of Spanish troops were arriving--some on
foot and others on horseback. The fortress began to fill up, and she
heard loud voices, songs and blasphemous utterances, the soldiers
venting their feelings as pleased them.
After a while the sounds below ceased, and from the next room she heard
the murmur of earnest voices. She recognized the tones of Lieutenant
Mazenas, and crept to the closed door between the apartments, that she
might hear what was being said.
"It was a bold stroke, Mazenas," she heard, in a resonant voice. "As a
lawyer, I never heard of anything more brilliant or daring."
"Oh, I have a good head on my shoulders, Barker," was the reply of
the conceited Spanish officer. "I saw that I must do something, and I
did it. But it was a master stroke to induce old Corona to place his
property in my care, and subject to my control."
"It was, indeed, a master stroke," replied Samuel Barker. "But that
wasn't half as brilliant as to hire two Spanish guerillas to follow
Nocolo and the old general, and strike them down when they least
expected it. Now you say both are dead, and their fate will be
considered due to the chances of war."
As she listened Estella's blood seemed to freeze in her veins. Her
father dead, too! She was alone in the world! A low moan escaped her
lips, and she sank down upon her knees. Oh, what a fearful monster
this being in the next room was! Her husband! Never! She would die a
hundred deaths ere that should occur.
"So you see this leaves the game entirely in our hands," said
Lieutenant Mazenas to the lawyer. "Now the question is, how are we to
divide when we come to settle up?"
"Half and half would be fair, Mazenas," was the cool answer.
"Half and half! Do you think I am an idiot, Barker, to do all the work,
and then share evenly?" burst out the lieutenant, angrily. "I will
allow you your original share of the Sherwood estate, and that is all."
"I won't accept."
"No?"
"I'll force you to give me half," returned Samuel Barker, stubbornly.
A cry of rage followed. Then Estella heard the overturning of a bench,
and the fall of a heavy body to the floor.
"Let--let me up!" she heard Barker gasp. "Don't--don't! Would you
murder me, Mazenas?"
"You have brought it on yourself!" hissed the lieutenant. "I've gotten
rid of the others; now I intend to get rid of you!"
Again came the sounds of a struggle, then a cry for help. Estella
essayed to scream out, but her voice failed her. In another moment she
knew it was all over. There was a gasp, and a gurgle, and Lieutenant
Mazenas leaped to his feet.
"He's out of the way," he muttered. "I wonder where I can place the
body? But, pshaw! no one here knows him! I'll let him lie where he is,
and throw a mass of straw over him." He paused for a moment. "I wonder
if she heard anything? I had better go in and see."
He threw a quantity of straw over the dead body, and then walked out
into the gloomy corridor. He was just about to enter Estella's room
when a soldier came for him.
"You are wanted below, lieutenant," he said, saluting--"wanted without
delay by Captain Guito."
"Very well," he replied; and for the time being his second visit to
Estella was deferred.
The horrible deed in the adjoining apartment had been too much for
Estella's nerves, and when satisfied that Lieutenant Mazenas had really
murdered his companion in cold blood, her senses forsook her, and she
did not recover consciousness until several hours later.
In the meantime all was bustle and activity below. Over two hundred
Spanish soldiers were on hand, and they speedily put the old stone
structure in condition for use should an attack by the rebels occur.
The defeat of the day before had frightened them, and they had become
extremely cautious.
Among the number was a man who, in years gone by had been a clergyman
in Madrid but had been suspended from the church for gambling. With
this fellow Lieutenant Mazenas had struck up a close friendship and the
religious outcast readily agreed to perform any ceremony the Spanish
villain might desire. He would ask no foolish questions he said and
assured Mazenas that all would go well.
The military operations about the old house having been completed
Lieutenant Mazenas again sought Estella's room. He found her lying upon
a bench her cheeks wet with tears.
"Tears are useless," he grumbled. "Do be a reasonable girl, Estella."
"Back! back!" she cried. "Don't touch me--murderer! I heard all that
occurred in the next room! And so you also instigated the death of my
poor father! Oh, you treacherous wretch! How I wish I had you in my
power for but one minute. I would show you how a Cuban girl can avenge
her wrongs!"
He laughed sardonically.
"Since you have heard what occurred in the next room you must realize
that I am not a man to be trifled with. Oh, you need not look out of
the window for help--there is none at hand."
He walked to the window and she turned away. Oh, if she had but known
that Howard had in that moment espied her, and was now on his way to
rescue her!
"I have a clergyman here," he went on. "He says he will marry us
at once. Now you can take the choice I gave you. Which shall it
be--marriage or dishonor?"
A cry straight from her soul burst from her bloodless lips. Leaping
forward she caught his pistol from his belt.
"I prefer--death!" she cried, and placed the weapon to her forehead.
But at that critical moment loud exclamations came to her
ears--exclamations that thrilled her to the heart and made her lower
the weapon, while the man before her turned pale with fear.
"Cuba libre! Cuba libre!"
And then came the voice of Howard at the very gate to the old stone
house, urging the men on. With a crash the gates went down, and there
followed revolver shots and sword strokes, groans, appeals for mercy,
and shouts of triumph.
"The rebels!" uttered Lieutenant Mazenas, and hurried to the door.
"Stop!" The command came from Estella. "Stand where you are, Lieutenant
Mazenas. You shall not go below to lead your men."
The pistol was pointed at his heart. He looked into her face, and saw
there no mercy--only stern, unrelenting justice. He fairly cowered
before her.
"Unlock the door," she went on. "But do not dare to take one step
beyond it."
With a muttered oath, he did as bidden. Then, of a sudden, he caught up
the bench, and, using it as a shield, rushed at her.
"I will yet tame you!" he hissed. "You shall see----"
"What will she see?" demanded a cold voice from the doorway.
Hastily turning, Lieutenant Mazenas found himself confronted by Howard,
with drawn sword.
"Howard!"
"Estella, my darling! Thank God, I have found you at last!"
"Caramba," muttered the lieutenant.
Then he drew his own weapon and made a lunge at the young war
correspondent.
The sparks flew thick and fast from the two blades as the two deadly
enemies circled around the apartment. It was a duel to the death, it
was easy to see that.
Twice did Howard have his opponent at a disadvantage, and each time
was the lieutenant badly wounded. But, like a dying bull in the
ring, he still kept on, cursing to himself and growing more wild and
bloodthirsty each instant.
Then, like a flash, Howard accidentally slipped, and fell upon one
knee. In an instant the lieutenant's sword was at the young war
correspondent's throat.
"I have you! Die, you American dog!"
The thrust was made, but it never reached its mark. Estella aimed the
pistol and fired a fatal shot, and with a groan, Mazenas rolled over,
and just as a body of the victorious rebels surged into the room, he
breathed his last.
* * * * *
A few words more and we will bring our story to a close.
With the death of Mazenas, Howard Sherwood found himself free of the
last of his enemies. With Estella safe in his charge, he returned to
the city, where the happy girl was welcomed with open arms by her
stricken father, whom, however, the attending physicians now pronounced
out of danger. General Corona had learned a bitter lesson, but he took
that lesson like a man, and in his future actions did all in his power
to atone for the misery he had caused his only child and her noble
lover.
After taking the old stone house, the main body of the insurgent
army moved onward. Not caring to leave Estella unprotected, and with
her sick father to care for, Howard resigned the position he had so
gallantly filled, and remained with the father and daughter. They
returned to the old stone mansion owned by General Corona, and it was
decided that they would remain until the residence on the plantation
could be rebuilt.
The kind treatment received by the old general at the rebel hospital,
and the discovery that the insurgents had not intended to fire his
cane-fields, produced a change of heart in the old man, and in less
than a week after he was out of danger he was talking as vigorously for
Cuban liberty as he had previously argued against it.
"It must come," he said. "It may not come with this war, but it is
bound to come some time, so I may as well be on the right side first as
last. Cuba libre!"
On his return to Santiago Howard hunted up Thomas Herringford and
placed his suit against Nocolo, Mazenas & Co., in charge of the old
lawyer for settlement. This, with all the evidence at hand, was an easy
matter, and six weeks later the young war correspondent resigned his
position with the press association, to take charge of an estate valued
at several hundred thousand dollars.
Closely following this important event came one of still greater
importance. This was Howard's marriage to Estella, now always called,
even by her stern old parent, the little Cuban rebel.
Never was a more magnificent marriage seen in that vicinity. The house
was a mass of flowers from first floor to dome; a splendid orchestra
furnished delicious music, and hundreds of guests were there, from
the highest public officials to the humble but ever-faithful Cara and
Tomasso, who had been man and wife for nearly two months.
The beautiful bride was attired in the finest of white satin and never
did she look more entrancing, nor did Howard ever look more manly and
handsome as when he came to claim her from her father. It was the
crowning moment of their young lives.
"The clouds for us have all dispersed, Estella, my darling," he
exclaimed, when it was all over, and they were alone. "You are mine,
all mine now, in very truth!"
"Yes, Howard," she whispered, as she hid her head upon his bosom. "I am
all yours, and I ask no more--my lover, my husband, my king!"
[THE END.]