members consisting of Don Hermoso, Carlos, Jack, and Milsom--at which it
was ultimately decided that the _Thetis_ should weigh anchor forthwith
and run over to Calonna, there to land Don Hermoso, the Senora, Carlos,
and Jack, who would then proceed to the hacienda with all speed; while
the yacht, under Milsom's command, was to proceed to the Laguna de
Cortes, and there remain concealed until it should be seen in what way
she could best be employed, after which Milsom was to return by boat to
Calonna, and from thence make his way to the hacienda, in order that he
might be on the spot to receive such verbal instructions as might be
necessary. This arrangement was duly carried out, and the evening of
the following day witnessed the return of the little party to the home
which they had so joyously left some months before, little dreaming of
the sad circumstances under which they would next gaze upon the familiar
surroundings.
They were welcomed back by the _employes_ of the estate with every sign
of the utmost satisfaction, tempered with deep and sincere sorrow at the
tragic fate of the young and beautiful daughter of the house, who had
contrived during her short life to render herself idolised by every
individual in her father's service, from Senor Calderon downward. In
the presence of the master and mistress the negroes, with that innate
sense of delicacy which governs their conduct toward those whom they
love, were careful that the signs of their grief at the loss of their
beloved young mistress should be confined to a few respectful
expressions of sympathy; but when Mama Faquita, Senorita Isolda's old
nurse, having extracted from Carlos a tolerably full and detailed
account of the circumstances that had culminated in her beloved young
mistress's death, went the round of the negro huts that night, she
kindled in the breasts of her fellows a flame of fury and vengeful
longing that was destined to consume Senor Alvaros.
It is not to be wondered at that, after what Don Hermoso had suffered,
personally and through his family, from Spanish misrule, his interest in
the management of his vast estates should occupy only a secondary
position in his mind; and that he should relegate that management almost
entirely to the capable hands and conscientious mind of Senor Calderon,
giving the first and most important place to the advancement, by every
means in his power, of the aims of the revolutionaries. With this
object, therefore, he shut himself up in his own private room for the
three weeks following his return home, and plunged strenuously into a
voluminous correspondence with Marti, Jesus Rabi, Antonio Maceo, Maximo
Gomez, and other more or less prominent insurgent leaders, making
exhaustive enquiry into the condition and prospects of the party, and
offering advice and assistance in its several projects: while Jack and
Carlos made long excursions in various directions for the purpose of
personally ascertaining the feeling of the inhabitants and adding fuel
to the smouldering flame of insurrection by every means in their power;
for it may be said at once that the shocking tyranny, the cruel
injustice, and the callous indifference on the part of the island
authorities which had rendered possible such a disaster as that which
had befallen his friends had kindled in Jack Singleton's breast such
fiery indignation, and such a loathing abhorrence, that--quixotic as the
resolve may seem to some--he had at once determined to throw in his lot
with that of the Montijos, and assist by every means in his power to
free Cuba from Spanish misrule.
In this fashion nearly two months went by, during which, by Don
Hermoso's instructions, the armament of the _Thetis_ had been
dismounted, remounted upon field carriages constructed by the carpenter
and engineers of the vessel, landed, with their ammunition, at various
points on the coast, and delivered over to the armed bands of the
revolutionaries, who were by this time springing up like mushrooms all
over the island; and the yacht, under Milsom's command, had been
dispatched to New York for further supplies. And during the whole of
this time, thanks to the fact that the secret had been kept from
everybody but sympathisers whose discretion might be relied on, the
rescue and return of the Montijo family remained unsuspected by the
Spanish authorities.
Then, one morning, a message reached Senor Calderon from Major Alvaros,
to the effect that the latter would arrive at the hacienda that night,
on a business visit, and that all necessary preparations were to be made
for his reception. This message Calderon at once handed to Don Hermoso,
with a request for instructions as to how the matter should be dealt
with; whereupon Jack and Carlos, who happened to be at hand that day, at
once undertook the duty of receiving the Spaniard suitably.
It was nearly five o'clock in the evening when Alvaros, hot, tired, and
dusty from his long ride from Pinar del Rio and his previous journey by
train, drew rein and dismounted before the broad flight of steps leading
up to the gallery which ran round the house, and, handing over his horse
to an obsequious negro who was in waiting, proceeded to ascend the
steps, his brow wrinkled into a frown of displeasure at Calderon's
failure to be present to give him a suitably respectful greeting upon
his arrival. He reached the top of the steps, paused for a moment to
glance around him at the wide prospect visible from the commanding
elevation of the gallery, and then strode forward to enter the house,
the wide folding doors of which stood, as usual, invitingly open. But
as he did so, and ere his foot reached the threshold, he was confronted
by Carlos, who, emerging suddenly from the obscurity of the entrance
hall, levelled a revolver straight at the Spaniard's right eye, so that
before that individual could recover from his astonishment, he found
himself gazing into the grooved barrel.
"Hands up, you villain and murderer!" exclaimed the young Cuban, glaring
savagely along the sights of the levelled weapon into Senor Alvaros'
eye: "hands up; or I will blow your worthless brains out with as little
compunction as that with which I would crush a venomous snake beneath my
heel! Quick! Don't hesitate, or I fire!"
Alvaros did not hesitate; there was that in the expression of Carlos'
eye, and in the yearning curl of his finger round the trigger, which
told the Spaniard that the least sign of hesitation would be fatal; and,
with the fear of death upon him, he instantly halted and flung up his
hands. Had he only known to what that was the prelude he would probably
have kept them down and marched on to his death!
Then, from behind Carlos, Jack appeared, with a whistle in his hand,
which he raised to his lips, and upon which he blew a shrill blast. At
the sound a number of negroes appeared, one of them bearing a long coil
of raw-hide rope, with a noose at one end of it, in his hand. This rope
Jack took from the hands of the negro and, dropping the noose over
Alvaros' head, drew it fairly tight, and then handed the rest of the
rope back to the black.
"Senor," exclaimed the quaking Spaniard, with quivering lips, "are you
about to murder me?"
"Not just yet," answered Jack cheerfully. "What we may eventually do I
will not pretend to say, because, you see, such vermin as you are not
fit to live; but at present we are only going to give you the second
instalment--I gave you the first, you will remember"--pointing to the
officer's still stiff elbow--"of the punishment due to you for your
infamous treatment of Don Hermoso and his family."
The fellow was by this time white as a corpse, and his lips were
tremulous with terror, yet he strove to carry things off with a high
hand.
"I presume, Senor," he said, "that it is due to your instrumentality
that that young ruffian is here at this moment, instead of on his way to
Fernando Po; and as he is here, I take it for granted that the remaining
members of the family are not far off. But rest assured that a terrible
retribution awaits you, not only for this outrage upon me, but also for
your rescue of prisoners sentenced by the Spanish Government to
transportation!"
"Yes," said Jack; "no doubt; I am quite willing to take your word for
that. But," altering his tone from one of banter to that of
concentrated anger, "let me tell you, Senor Alvaros, that Senorita
Isolda Montijo is dead--owing to your cruelty--and for that and your
other crimes retribution is about to fall on you. And this is the first
part of it!"
Saying which, he unbuckled Alvaros' sword, drew the weapon from its
sheath, and snapped the blade across his knee.
"There!" he exclaimed, flinging the pieces from him; "you will never
again disgrace that weapon by wearing it. Lead him away, Pedro; and if
he attempts any nonsense, just choke him with that lariat."
"This way, Senor," exclaimed Pedro, roughly jerking the lariat in the
direction of the steps, as a hint to the prisoner that he was to descend
them; and in this ignominious fashion the once arrogant but now cowering
and cringing Spaniard was led away under Jack's supervision, while
Carlos, selecting a heavy riding-whip from the rack, followed the
procession. The prisoner was conducted to the negro quarters, which
were situated about half a mile from the house, with a belt of timber
between it and them; and there he was stripped to his trousers, and
firmly lashed to a post which had been hastily erected for the purpose.
Then, the whole of the negroes employed upon the plantation having been
assembled, Carlos related to the blacks the several sufferings and
indignities which Alvaros had caused to be inflicted upon the members of
the Montijo family, and how to him was due the death of the Senorita,
his sister, whom they had all loved so well: and when he had finished
his story he flogged Alvaros until the miserable wretch screamed and
howled for mercy, offering the most abject excuses and apologies for his
conduct, and vowing by all the saints that if Carlos would but release
him he would leave Cuba, never to return; that he would surrender the
Montijo estates to their rightful owner; that he would never breathe to
a single living soul a syllable as to what had passed; and that he would
also do a number of other unlikely, not to say impossible, things.
Then, when his arm was tired, and he could flog no longer, Carlos
desisted, and ordered Alvaros to be cast loose from the stake and
securely confined in an empty tobacco shed, with a negro on guard at the
door of the building to see that he did not escape. When at length the
shrinking, cringing creature was hustled into his prison and securely
bound, Carlos turned to him and said:
"You have now received the second instalment of punishment for your
atrocious crime. You will be kept here until it is convenient to remove
you, being fed meanwhile upon bread and water. And when a convenient
time arrives you will be placed on board a ship and marooned, which will
be the final instalment of the punishment which your evil deeds have
called down upon your head. The best thing I can wish you is that what
you have suffered to-day, and will suffer in the future, will bring home
to you the evil of your ways, and lead to your sincere repentance for
them." And therewith he passed from Senor Alvaros' sight--to be seen by
him no more.
That same night, when the white people had all retired to rest in the
great casa, Mama Faquita stole away down to the negro quarters and,
going from hut to hut, roused their occupants and summoned them to a
great palaver in the open space which the huts surrounded, and in which
the children were wont to play. The scene was a weirdly picturesque
one, for, prior to rousing the negroes, Mama had kindled a great fire in
the centre of the open space; and in front of this, in a great
semicircle, the negroes congregated, squatting on their heels and
rolling their eyeballs in the flickering light of the flames, while Mama
addressed them. They were all free, but had all been slaves not so very
many years before: many of them were born Africans, with their savage
instincts still practically as strong within them as they had ever been;
while in the case of the rest, although their association with white men
from their birth had rendered them more amenable in some respects than
were the more recent importations, the tenacity with which they had
adhered to their fetish-worship, with all its secret and horribly
revolting customs, tended to keep them still utterly savage at heart,
and only too ready to lend a willing ear to any suggestion which offered
them an excuse to indulge their inherent lust for cruelty. Moreover,
the African black who has been a slave is a singular combination of good
and evil: on the one hand, he is capable of affection and devotion, to
an extraordinary degree, toward those who have treated him well; while,
on the other, he is equally capable of the most ferocious and implacable
hatred of those who have injured him or those he loves; also, he is
extraordinarily impressionable. Mama Faquita, being herself a full-
blooded negress, was of course perfectly well aware of these
peculiarities in the nature of her audience; and she played upon them as
a skilled musician does upon a sensitively responsive instrument. She
dwelt eloquently and at length upon the invariable kindness with which
they had one and all been treated by the _amo_ and his family, and
especially by the young Senorita, whom some of them at least were able
to remember as a little, toddling baby, and whom they all had loved as
passionately as though she had been their own; and as she spoke thus the
tears of grief streamed down her cheeks, and she wrung her hands in
anguish evoking a ready and sympathetic response from her hearers. Then
she went on to recall to their memory the sad homecoming of two months
ago, and the dreadful tale that they had been told when they asked why
the Senorita had not also returned: and finally she reminded them--as
though any reminder were by this time necessary--that the author of the
family's woe now lay, ay, at that very moment, imprisoned in the tobacco
shed, within a stone's-throw of the spot where they were then assembled.
She spoke with qualified satisfaction of the punishment which the young
master had inflicted upon the picaro in their presence a few hours ago;
she admitted that, so far as it went, it was good: but she contended
that it did not go nearly far enough, considering the monstrous
character of the crime of which the prisoner had been guilty; and she
asserted her conviction that white men did not know how to punish, that
they were altogether too squeamish in their notions, particularly in the
matter of dealing mercifully with those who had injured them; and that
it was only the negro who thoroughly understood how to devise a
punishment to properly fit the crime.
It was enough; there was no need for her to say another word. With
consummate skill she had gradually wrought her audience up to a pitch of
demoniac fury; she had pictured her--and their--beloved young mistress
in the power of the wretch who crouched with smarting, lacerated back
yonder in the shed--insulted, ill-treated, and finally driven to madness
and death by him: and now, at a word from one of them, the whole body of
negroes sprang to their feet and, with low, hissing, muttering
execrations and threats, infinitely more terrifying to listen to than
the loudest yells of ferocity, ran to the shed and, with a few low-
murmured words of explanation to the guard, demanded the surrender of
the prisoner. The demand was conceded with scarcely a word of protest,
and five minutes later the miserable Alvaros, in a speechless frenzy of
fear, was being hurried along a lonely bush path, known only to the
negroes, to a spot some three miles distant. What happened to him when
he arrived there must be left untold; suffice it to say that Major
Alvaros was never more seen of men, and the mystery of his disappearance
remains unsolved to this day, although Carlos Montijo and Jack Singleton
are under the delusion that they know what became of him. Furthermore,
the inhabitants of the hacienda were never troubled by inconvenient
enquiries about him, for it afterwards transpired that when he set out
upon his fateful journey he had not thought fit to say whither he was
going, or how long he intended to be absent; by the time, therefore,
that his prolonged absence from duty had provoked enquiry, all trace of
him was completely lost.
The male occupants of the house were just finishing early breakfast next
morning when Senor Calderon presented himself before them, in a
condition of considerable mental discomposure, with the intelligence
that the prisoner had apparently contrived to effect his escape; for one
of the negroes had just come up to the house with the report that, upon
his opening the door of the tobacco shed to give the captive his
breakfast, Alvaros was found to have disappeared, and no trace of him
had thus far been discovered. This was distinctly alarming news, for it
was instantly recognised that if Alvaros had really contrived to get
clear away, he would undoubtedly make the best of his way back to Havana
and there report to the authorities the violence to which he had been
subjected; and also, possibly, the rescue of the Montijos from the
convict ship, though mention of the latter would probably depend upon
whether their conviction had been the result of representations to the
Capitan-General, or whether, as Don Ramon Bergera had surmised, it had
been the work of Alvaros alone. In either case, the consequences were
likely to be quite serious to the Montijos; and Carlos, accompanied by
Jack and Calderon, at once hurried away to investigate the circumstances
of the alleged escape.
Upon their arrival at the tobacco shed they found the door of the
building still locked and the negro guard still posted before it, the
door having been re-fastened, as Calderon explained, immediately upon
the discovery of the prisoner's disappearance. Entering the shed, they
at once satisfied themselves as to the truth of the statement that its
late occupant was no longer in it, for the building was absolutely
empty, and, being a perfectly plain structure, with simply four stone
walls, a cement floor, and an unceiled roof, there was no nook or cranny
in which even a rat, much less a man, could conceal himself. Moreover,
the rope by which he had been, as it was thought, securely bound before
being left on the previous evening, was lying upon the floor,
immediately beneath one of the large, shuttered openings in the walls
which were used for the admission of light and air into the shed as
required. The position of the rope naturally led to an examination of
the opening beneath which it lay; and it was then found that the massive
bolts securing the shutter had been drawn, and that therefore there was
nothing to prevent the prisoner from escaping through the opening--
provided that he could free himself from the rope and reach it. But how
he had contrived to accomplish these two things was the mystery: for
Carlos and Jack had both been present during the lashing-up of Alvaros,
and they both felt that they would have been fully prepared to declare
that for the prisoner to release himself would be a simple
impossibility, so securely had he been bound; while the sill of the
opening was quite nine feet from the floor, and for a man to reach it
without the help of a ladder, or some similar aid, seemed equally
impossible,--and there was no such aid in the building. It occurred to
Jack that the prisoner, after freeing himself from his bonds, might have
succeeded in throwing the loop of the rope over one of the shutter
bolts, and so have drawn himself up; but to accomplish such a feat in
absolute darkness again seemed an absolute impossibility. Altogether,
the circumstances seemed to be enveloped in impenetrable mystery; there
was only one indisputable fact, which was that the prisoner was gone.
Then the negro guard was severely questioned, but he seemed quite unable
to throw any light upon the matter; his statement was that he had
exercised the utmost vigilance all through the night, that he had heard
no sound of movement on the part of the prisoner, had noticed nothing to
suggest an attempt at escape, and was utterly confounded when, upon
unlocking the door to take in the prisoner's breakfast, he found that
the bird had flown. This was his story, and no amount of cross-
examination caused him to deviate in the slightest degree from it; for
when a negro lays himself out to deceive, the fact that he is lying
through thick and thin causes him no qualms of conscience.
The investigation thus conclusively pointed to the fact that the
prisoner had somehow contrived to escape; and, that having been
established, the obviously proper thing to do was to endeavour to
recapture him. Horses were therefore ordered to be saddled and taken up
to the house; a Fantee negro, who had been re-named Juan, and who had
the reputation of being a marvellously expert tracker, was ordered to
examine the ground about the tobacco shed for tracks, and to hold
himself ready to accompany the hunters; and Jack and Carlos then
returned to the house to equip themselves. In something less than half
an hour the party, consisting of Jack and Carlos, mounted, and each
armed with a rifle, and half a dozen negroes, including Juan, set out.
The hunt began at the tobacco shed, beneath the unbolted shutter of
which Juan declared that, despite the hardness of the ground, he had
succeeded in detecting the footprints of the fugitive; and thence it
took its course northward, strange to say, in the direction of the
mountains, instead of toward Pinar del Rio, as the two young white men
had naturally expected. This was so surprising that, as soon as the
direction became apparent, Carlos called a halt and openly expressed his
conviction that the Fantee was making a mistake; but Juan confidently
declared that he was doing nothing of the sort, and, in support of his
statement, pointed to certain barely perceptible marks here and there on
the ground, which he asserted were the tracks of the fugitive--this
assertion being corroborated by the other negroes. To the eyes of the
white men the marks in question were so very slight and vague as to
convey absolutely no meaning at all; indeed, they could not in some
cases convince themselves that there really were any marks; but then the
ground was so dry and hard that even their horses left scarcely a trace
of their passage: they were therefore obliged to take Juan's word for it
that they were on the right track, and follow where he led.
They were of opinion that, considering Alvaros' condition after the
terrific punishment which Carlos had inflicted upon him only a few hours
previously, and the circumstance that he seemed to have been travelling
for several hours in darkness, over country that must have been
absolutely strange to him, he could not have made very rapid progress,
or gone very far; and after the first hour they were in momentary
expectation of coming upon him: but mile after mile was traversed, and
still Juan asserted that the fugitive was yet some distance ahead, and
that they did not appear to be gaining on him very rapidly--due, as the
negro pointed out, to the extreme difficulty of tracking over such hard
and, for the most part stony, ground. The fact was that Juan and his
fellow-negroes, having arranged among themselves a course of action
during the short period while Carlos and Jack were preparing for the
expedition, were enacting a very cleverly carried out piece of comedy,
so cleverly performed, indeed, that neither of the young men had the
slightest suspicion that they were being deceived.