The uncertainty was of scarcely an instant. The open slit above the
door was a perfect conveyer of sound, and a voice pierced the silence.
It was the voice of Juan Cateras, vibrant with anger.
"You sleepy swine," he ejaculated fiercely, "and is this the way you
keep watch? Come out of that!" the command punctuated by the scuffling
of feet. "Damn you, Silva, but I will teach you a lesson for this when
I return. Now go to the hut and stay there until I come. This is a
matter where Mendez shall name the penalty. Get you gone, you sleepy
dog."
He either struck or kicked the man, hurrying the fellow down the
passage to the echo of Spanish oaths. Apparently no resistance was
made, for the next instant the key turned in the lock and the door
opened. Cateras, smiling, seemingly unruffled by this encounter,
stepped within, calmly closed the door behind him, and then turned to
greet the lady. She met his bow with eyes of firm resolve, though her
heart ached.
"Why do you come, _señor_?" she asked so quietly that the man in
surprise halted his step forward.
"To keep my word," and his white teeth gleamed in an effort at
pleasantness. "I am always truthful with your sex; and I told you I
would return shortly."
"Yet why?" she insisted, anxious only to keep him away as long as
possible, and yet enchain his interest. "If I am prisoner here, I am
not your prisoner. Do you come, then, to serve me?"
"Can you doubt that, _señorita_?" still endeavouring to retain the mask
he had first assumed. "Because circumstances make me defy the law--a
mere love of adventure, no more--is no reason why I should be devoid of
heart and sympathy." He took a step nearer. "Since leaving here I
have questioned the men who brought you, and learned why you were made
prisoner. I care nothing for this Bill Lacy--nothing," and he snapped
his fingers derisively. "Why should I? But, instead, I would be your
friend."
"You mean your purpose is to aid me to escape?"
He bowed low.
"It would be my great happiness to do so. There is danger, yet what is
danger to Juan Cateras? 'Tis only part of my life. The _señorita_ is
an American, and to her one of my race may not appeal, yet I would
prove my devotion with my life."
"Your devotion, _señor_!"'
"Is not the word expressive! Though I have seen you but once before,
my heart is already devoted to your interest. I am of a Southern race,
_señorita_, and we do not calculate--we feel. Why, then, should I
conceal my eagerness? It is love which causes me to thus defy all and
offer you freedom."
"Love!" she laughed. "Why, that is impossible. Surely you only jest,
_señor_."
The smile deserted his lips, and with a quick, unexpected movement he
grasped her hand.
"Jest! You would call it a jest. You will not think so for long.
Why, what can you do? No; stop shrinking back from me. It will be
well that you listen. This is no parlour where you can turn me away
with a word of scorn," and his eyes swept the bare walls. "I come to
you with a chance of escape; I will take the risk and pledge you my
aid. I alone can save you; there is no other to whom you can turn. In
return I but ask my reward."
She hesitated, her eyes lifting to his face.
"You promise me your assistance?"
"Within the hour."
"How? What plan have you?"
"That I will not tell; you must trust me. I am the lieutenant of
Pasqual Mendez," a touch of pride in his voice. "And my word alone
will open the way. You will come?"
"Wait; I must know more. You say it is love which prompts your offer,
_señor_. I cannot understand; and even if this be true, I must be
frank and honest in my answer--I do not return your love."
"Bah! That is nothing. I know women; they learn love quickly when the
way opens. I am not so ill to look at, _señorita_. A kiss now will
seal the bargain! I will wait the rest."
"You ask no pledge, then, of me?"
"Only your consent to accompany me, and the kiss. Beyond that I take
the gambler's chance. Only you must say yes or no; for it will require
time for me to clear the road."
"It must be to-night?"
"The sooner the better; they tell me Lacy will be here himself soon,
and after he comes the one chance is over with. You will give the
kiss?"
"Do not ask it, _señor_!"
"Oh, but I will--aye, more, I'll take it. A dozen will do no harm, and
no scream from those lips will be heard. You may as well be nice, my
beauty."
She was against the wall, helpless, and the grip of his hands was like
steel. She made no sound, although struggling to break free. His
breath was on her cheek; his eyes burning with lust gazing straight
into her own.
Slowly, remorselessly, he bent her head backward until she feared her
neck would snap. A sob started in her throat, but she silenced it with
the will of a superwoman. Into her terror-stricken mind leaped the
sudden conclusion that resistance with this beast was futile; she must
outwit him with her brains. Suddenly relaxing herself, she slipped to
the granite floor on her knees.
"Please, please," she begged. "I give in, _señor_, I give in."
But as she spoke her right hand closed about a square jagged bit of
rock.
"So, my pretty," sneered Cateras, "you have learned that Juan Cateras
is not a man to trifle with. It is well." And, releasing his grip
upon her, he allowed the girl to rise.
As she stood there in the half light, her grey eyes flashing, her young
bosom rising and falling, she was a vaguely defined but alluring
figure. So Juan Cateras thought, and he took a step nearer, his thick,
red lips curling with lust, eager to claim their rich reward. As they
came closer Stella Donovan stiffened.
"Look, _señor_," she whispered--"behind you!"
The Mexican in his eagerness was off his guard. He turned to look, and
at that instant the girl drew back her sturdy arm and then brought it
forward again with all her vigour. _Cluk_! She heard the rock sound
against her oppressor's head, heard a low moan escape his lips, and saw
him sink slowly to the floor at her feet.
The next instant she was beside him, in terror lest she had killed him;
but a hurried glance, supplemented by her fingers which reached for his
pulse, assured her that she had only stunned her assailant. Her heart
beat less rapidly now, and she again had control of her mental
processes. With deft hands that worked speedily in the darkness she
unstrapped from around his waist the belt with its thirty-six
cartridges and revolver, then pulled from his pocket the keys, not only
to her cell, but, she judged, to others.
The feel of their bronze coldness in her hot hands brought a quick
message to her brain; beyond a question of doubt, the missing Cavendish
was concealed in one of the dark, dank cells in the immediate vicinage,
if not actually in this same passage, then in another one perhaps not
greatly distant. The speculation gave her determination and decision.
Reaching beneath her outer skirt, she jerked loose her white petticoat,
and then began tearing it into long strips which she knotted together.
This done, she bound Juan Cateras's hand and foot, and, with some
difficulty, turned him over on his face after first thrusting into his
half-open mouth a gag, which she had fashioned from stray ends of the
providential petticoat.
Then leaping to her feet and strapping the ammunition belt and revolver
about her waist, she stole on tiptoe to the doorway and peered out; the
silent, cavernous passage was empty.
Lithely, like a young panther, she slipped out of the cell and began
making down the passageway to a spot of light which she judged to be
its opening. She had scarcely gone ten feet, however, before she
stopped short--somewhere in the dark she heard a voice.
Flattening herself against the sides of the passage, she thought
quickly; to return to the cell in which lay Juan Cateras would be
unwise, for he might break the bonds, which were none too strong, and,
in his fury at having been so easily duped, subject her to unknown but
anyway horrible indignities, if not death itself. But what other
course was there?
As she stood there a fraction of a second against the wall, knowing not
which way to turn, the girl wished with all her heart that big Jim
Westcott, strong, cool, collected, the master of any situation
requiring force, tact, and acumen, were there by her side to take her
arm and guide her out of this terrible predicament. But Jim was
elsewhere--where, she could hardly guess.
What was to be done? Her temples throbbed as the voices sounded
nearer. Then it came home to her--why not try one of the other cells?
Possibly she would be lucky enough to find an empty one; the chances
were, she felt, that most of them were.
Suiting action to the thought, she stepped quietly from the niche in
the wall, moved noiselessly along its surface, and came at length to
another dungeon similar to She one she had occupied, except that it had
no window in its oaken door. Fumbling with the bunch of keys, she took
the first one around which her fingers fell and thrust it hurriedly
into the lock. Would it open the haven to temporary safety? She
struggled with it--turning it first to the left and then to the right.
The footsteps were sounding nearer and nearer every minute, the voices
were growing louder.
Frantic, she gave the key a final desperate twist, and as a sigh of
relief escaped her lips the door swung open. Slipping through the
aperture, she closed it softly after her and, panting from excitement
and her exertions, turned and faced the recesses of her hiding-place.
It was black, pitch-black, except for a long ray of light that
struggled in between the heavy door and its casing, but as Stella
Donovan stood there in the gloom she was aware that she was not the
only occupant of the cell. She crouched back, gripped in the hands of
another fear, but the next moment her alarm was lessened somewhat by
the sound of a soft, well-modulated voice.
"Who's that?" it said faintly.
Then followed the repeated scratching of a wet match, a flame of yellow
light, which was immediately carried to a short tallow candle, and in
the aura of its sickly flame Stella Donovan saw the face of a man with
long, unkempt beard and feverish eyes that stared at her as though she
were an apparition.