CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
IN THE HANDS OF THE INQUISITION.
We must now move forward for a period of four months, during which timemany changes have occurred.
When the men had escaped from the burning cathedral, Cavendish hadmustered them in the plaza opposite, and found none missing except Rogerand Harry.
These two were great favourites with the ship's company, and manywilling hands had gone back to bring them out of the smoking edifice;but no traces of them could be found. It was then thought that theymight have missed their way on the road down from the fort, and searchwas made in that direction, but without success.
The town was then thoroughly searched, yet the two friends stillremained missing. Eventually, therefore, Cavendish was most reluctantlycompelled to sail without them, and many were the conjectures as to whatfate could possibly have befallen them.
Since that time Cavendish had taken his fleet round the Horn, and sailedup the western coast of Spanish South America, arriving eventually offthe coast of Peru. At Callao he had received news that a plate ship wasexpected to arrive shortly from Manila on her way to Acapulco, inMexico, and he had determined to waylay and capture her. And, at thedate to which this history has now arrived, he had just intercepted andcaptured her off the Mexican coast, and taken out of her all her vasttreasure--the finest, richest prize that has ever been taken eitherbefore or since. And at this point the exigencies of the narrativedemand that he must be left.
Meanwhile, our former acquaintance, Alvarez, whom we lost sight of atthe Careenage, had successfully made his way through the Cuban jungle,and, arriving at the port of Matanzas, with the remainder of the men,had sailed thence to Vera Cruz, in Mexico, where he had received a highappointment from the viceroy, which he now held.
De Soto had travelled with him to Mexico, and, for so gallant agentleman, had been singularly unfortunate. Alvarez had found itimpossible to disabuse his mind of the idea that de Soto had thecryptogram in his possession, and, remembering what had been said by himabout the Holy Office, had brought the fact before the notice of thatbody, repeating de Soto's remarks and denouncing him as a heretic. Theunfortunate man was thereupon seized, thrown into prison, and, under thedirection of the villain Alvarez, dreadfully tortured, ostensibly tocompel him to retract his words against the Inquisition, but really toenable Alvarez to wring from de Soto the cipher, as the price of hisrelease from prison and torture.
The persistent and unwavering assertions of de Soto that he had not thepaper, and knew naught of its whereabouts, were received withincredulity, and the unhappy man was tortured again and again to forcefrom him the disclosure of its hiding-place.
The supposed burning of the cathedral at La Guayra had been merely aruse to get rid of the spoilers. Several of the priests had hit uponthe ingenious idea of setting fire to large quantities of damp straw incertain secluded parts of the building, and the smoke, drifting hitherand thither through the interior, had caused the English to believe thatthe place was indeed on fire, and had occasioned their hasty flight.The disappearance of Harry and Roger, on the other hand, was purely dueto chance, and had not, as might be imagined, been brought about bydesign.
The explanation was simple enough. It happened that the paving of oneof the aisles had been undergoing repair at the time of Cavendish'sattack upon the town. One of the large paving-slabs was loose, andHarry and Roger, in their haste to escape, had trodden on it, causing itto tilt, and they had fallen into the vault below; their unconsciousbodies being soon afterwards discovered by the priests, when the latterwent to extinguish the burning straw upon the departure of the raiders.
They were recognised by the priest who had been present in the buildingduring its spoliation, and who had uttered the warning to the sailors;and he hastened to impart the good news that two of the pirate hereticshad fallen into their hands. Thereupon the two lads were promptlydelivered over to the tender mercies of the Holy Office, who did withthem what they would; but their ultimate fate was to be delayed untilthey should have been publicly exhibited and tortured in every town ofimportance in New Spain, as an example of what would happen should anyheretic ever again dare to set foot upon their sacred territory.
The two poor lads had been branded and tortured publicly in the plaza atLa Guayra--with every refinement of cruelty that yet stopped short ofpermanent injury,--and thence had been sent to Mexico to undergo similartreatment in its cities; after which they were to be returned to LaGuayra to undergo the final punishment of burning alive at anauto-da-fe.
Our next meeting with the two lads, therefore, is as they sit, bowedhead on hands, in their small and horribly dirty cell in the building ofthe Holy Inquisition in the town of Vera Cruz, in Mexico.
They had already been tortured cruelly at La Guayra; but theirconstitutions were strong and yet unbroken, and the sea voyage from LaGuayra to Vera Cruz--during which they had been carefully nursed inpreparation for the endurance of further torments--had done wonders insetting them up again; to such an extent, indeed, that they were nowalmost their old selves, except for the recollection of theirsufferings, which they would never forget, and the scars from theinstruments of torture, which would remain with them for the rest oftheir lives.
This was the first day of their imprisonment at Vera Cruz, they havingonly disembarked from the ship on that same morning.
They had just partaken of the scanty meal put into the cell by an unseenjailer, and were now occupied each with his own thoughts--which werenone of the pleasantest--as they sat upon two low stones that served forchairs, which, with a larger block of stone for a table, constituted thesole furniture of the cell.
The cell itself was like a tomb. It was about ten feet long by eightbroad and twelve high, lit by one small window which looked out on to adirty, dingy quadrangle, surrounded on all sides by the buildings of theHoly Office. The unglazed window itself was barred up with stout ironbars, which were deeply sunk into the wall, the thickness of which wasfully four feet, and much too thick and strong for them ever to dream ofbreaking through without the aid of tools, plenty of time, and nointerruption. The ledge below the grating was foul, and piled high withthe accumulated filth of years; and the cell walls were damp and slimy,covered with a growth of fungus nourished by the hot and steamymoisture. The building itself was some hundreds of years old, havingbeen an Aztec temple before the Spaniards had taken it over and adaptedit for its present purpose. The cell door, which had been of stone inMexican times, consisted now of a thick and solid slab of teak, stronglybound with iron, and stout enough to resist the attack of abattering-ram.
Chancing once to glance upward and toward the door--having heard someslight sound outside,--Roger was just in time to catch sight of an eye--a dark, shining, and sinister orb--glued to a small hole in the door,which he had not before noticed, and which was apparently covered whennot in use for spying purposes. It was evident that a watch, constantand strict, was to be maintained upon them, and that therefore anyattempt at escape on their part, which they might be ill-advised enoughto hazard, would be discovered at once and promptly frustrated. Infact, it appeared that escape was too absolutely hopeless and impossibleto be thought of seriously. As Roger glanced up, the eye vanished,leaving them with the unpleasant sensation of being continually watched.
"We are being spied upon, Harry," whispered Roger. "I saw an eye at thedoor just now." And he indicated the place to his friend.
Harry rose and went toward the door, and as he did so both lads caughtthe sound of a retreating footstep.
"If we had anything suitable," replied Harry, "we might close it up.But I suppose it would be quite useless for us to do so; they would onlyclear it out again, and very likely torture us for our pains."
"Well," remarked Roger, "if they do here, as they did at La Guayra--thatis, always pass our food in through a trap in the wall, and never enterthe cell,--we might risk doing it and see what happens. They can butopen the hole once more. And we can make no plans, nor indeed c
an we doanything, while we are watched constantly; so we might try it at allevents."
At this moment, as they stood gazing at the tiny aperture, there was aslight click at the back of them, and, turning round quickly, they saw aplatter of food and jug of water inside the cell, and close against thewall; but of the aperture through which it had been passed they coulddiscover no trace in that dim light, even after close and carefulexamination.
"It is as we thought," said Roger; "it seems to be the custom in theseSpanish prisons never to allow the prisoners to see or speak to anyone,even the jailer. You may depend upon it that we shall never have anyoneentering this cell until they come to conduct us to thetorture-chamber." And he shuddered; the recollection associated withthe word "torture" was exceedingly unpleasant.
"In that case," agreed Harry, "we will try the effect of plugging thathole, and see what happens. But first we had better take our meal whilewe have the chance."
Their dinner consisted of a slab of some kind of coarse, dark-coloured,ill-flavoured bread, and a bowl of maize-meal porridge such as hasconstituted the staple food of the natives of that part of the world forcenturies.
They ate their food, but, hungry as they were, found great difficulty inswallowing the porridge, so exceedingly unpalatable was it.
Hunger, however, provides an excellent sauce, and they managed betweenthem to finish the supply, and then emptied the water pitcher forthwith,as they were very thirsty.
"Now to hit upon a good way to stop up that villainous spy-hole," saidHarry, and looked around the cell for something which would answer thepurpose.
They could see nothing suitable until their eyes fell upon theaccumulation of dirt upon the window-ledge.
"Ah! I have it!" ejaculated Roger; and, climbing on Harry's shoulders,he reached down a handful of the dust.
"Now mix this," he went on, "with that liquor left from the porridge.That contains a good deal of sticky matter, and will make this stuffhold together."
They mixed the dirt and dust and floury water all together, and, leavingit for a time to harden slightly, found that the mass held fairly firmlytogether, and might make a reasonably good plug.
"We must, however, wait for darkness, Roger," said Harry. "If we putthis in after dark it will not be noticed until the morning, by whichtime it ought to have hardened sufficiently to prevent its being pushedout again. If we were to do it now, it would be noticed when our friendthe spy comes round for a final look at us, and would doubtless beremoved again before it had had a chance of setting."
Darkness soon fell, and then the two silently and carefully pushed inthe already nearly solid plug of earth. They had sufficient to fill thelittle opening completely, for they heard some of it patter down on tothe stone floor outside.
"There," said Harry, when they had finished, "if they do not find thatbefore morning, it should be hard, and then I doubt whether they willtrouble to bore it out again after it has set; but we shall see."
It was now perfectly dark in the cell, for even on the most brilliantmoonlight nights the light could not reach the cell, because of the highwalls all round the quadrangle outside, which prevented the rays fromstreaming in.
Being exceedingly tired, and rather sleepy, the two friends spread theirjerkins on the block of stone forming the table, as it was far too dampto lie on the floor, and were soon fast asleep in one another's arms.
They were awakened the next morning by the sound of the trap shuttingafter the morning's supply of food had been put in; and their firstthought, before even glancing at the meal, was to see if the plug hadbeen disturbed. To their great joy, so far as they could tell, it hadnot been touched; and, upon testing it, it proved to be perfectly hardand quite immovable.
"It will take them a little time to get that out, even if they try to doso," said Roger; "but I trust that they will not attempt it. If they donot, we are at least safe from observation, if not from being overheard.But, to be on the safe side, I think it would be wisdom on our part toconverse only in whispers."
"I quite agree with you there," replied Harry; "one never knows who maybe listening. And now let us turn our attention to breakfast, and seewhether we have anything different this morning from that miserable andtasteless meal porridge and black bread."
They examined the food and found that, this time, instead of theporridge, a bunch of bananas had been provided; but, for the rest, theblack bread and water were there as before, and nothing beside.
However, they ate heartily of what they found, and finished it all,feeling much refreshed after it. But ever hanging over them was theblack cloud, which they could not forget; the remembrance of thetortures through which they had already passed, and the anticipation ofothers to follow.
They made a further careful examination of the cell; and this time, bydint of patient search, they located the aperture through which theirfood was thrust every day. It was constructed with much skill, and onlyby very close inspection could they make out the small joints indicatingthe position of the trap. Before they found it, some vague idea hadformed itself in their minds of watching for the time when it should beopened to pass in their meals, and endeavouring to scramble throughbefore it was closed again. It was a hare-brained scheme, and wouldnever have suggested itself were it not for the fact that their mindshad been persistently dwelling upon the chances of escape, and hadbecome so dulled by long confinement that they were not now so clear asthey had been in happier times. A second glance served to prove to themthe utter futility of any attempt at escape by that means, as the sizeof the opening was insufficient to permit the passage of their bodies.
This discovery came as a severe disappointment to them, and theyremained for some considerable time sitting on their respective stonestools, a prey to black despair and utter hopelessness.
They were aroused from their dismal reverie by hearing a stealthyfootstep approaching the door.
It stopped outside, and, by leaning their heads against the wood-work,and listening intently, they heard a slight creaking sound, as of woodagainst wood, which, to their now alert senses, indicated that thewatcher was gently pushing back the slide which concealed the spy-hole.There was then a pause, and the lads looked across at one another andcould not forbear a smile, even in their state of misery and suspense,at the idea of the spy's astonishment and disappointment at finding alldark when he expected to be able to see into the cell.
Presently there ensued a slight scratching, and they knew that the spywas attempting to remove the obstruction.
Their plug, however, answered its purpose well, and showed no signs ofbudging.
Then the scratching noise began afresh, and somewhat more loudly, as theman became impatient of the delay, and dispensed with caution. Afterseveral ineffectual efforts on the spy's part the noise ceased, and thestealthy footsteps were heard receding in the distance.
"Well, Roger," said Harry, when the sound of the spy's footsteps hadceased, "we got the better of him that time; did we not?"
"Ay," responded Roger gloomily; "but we must not expect that the matterwill rest there. They will be certain to return and drill that hole outagain, or make a fresh one, and we are sure to be punished in some wayfor what we have done--either by starvation or torture. I am by nomeans sure that we were wise in stopping up that spy-hole, or that bydoing so we have served any good purpose."
"Oh, come now, Roger, old fellow, you must not think like that!"answered Harry. "Now that they have seen that we know they watch us,they may not attempt it again; and they would surely not do very much tous for a little thing like that. Besides, it is intolerable to thinkthat we are being spied upon all day long, and that whatever we do orsay is known. There would be absolutely no chance whatever of ourmaking a successful attempt to escape at any time if we had not closedthe hole. At any rate, it is done now, and it is no good our worryingover it; we must just wait and see what happens. If they are going tomake a fresh place of observation, or punish us for what we have done,they will not defer
it long; so to-day will, in my opinion, decide thematter. Meanwhile we must wait; and, while we are unobserved, we hadbetter make the most of our time."
"You are right, Harry, old friend," said Roger; "but for my part I donot feel much like talking, or anything else. If we had somethingreally useful to occupy us to pass the time it would be different; butas it is, well--what can we do?"
"Well, I'll tell you," answered Harry. "We will wait for a littlewhile, in order to ascertain whether they mean to do anything about thismatter of closing up the spy-hole; and, if no one comes, I think wecould not do better than make another attempt to translate thatcryptogram of ours. We have made many attempts already, it is true, andit has always got the better of us. But then, we have never, until now,really had the time to spare to attend to it properly. Now would be avery good opportunity; we have plenty of time--which drags heavilyenough, God knows. This would serve to make it pass; and if wesucceed--and should be able also to effect our escape--we should then beready to secure that treasure without delay. For although, so far as weare aware, we are the only ones who know anything whatever about theaffair, delay is dangerous; someone might easily even get there beforeus and discover the treasure by accident. One never knows. What thinkyou, Roger?"
"Why, Harry, lad," said Roger, brightening up considerably, "I thinkthat it's a very good idea. I am surprised that I never thought of itmyself. We had better wait a little, however, and see what happens,before we extract the paper from my jacket; we do not want to be takenby surprise."
The words were hardly out of his mouth when, from somewhere in thebuilding, evidently some distance away, came a long wailing cry, low atfirst, then rising gradually higher and higher, until it became apiercing scream--the scream of a man in mortal agony.
The long-drawn shriek continued for some moments, and then died downagain to a low, moaning sound; then it rose again, and changed into aseries of short yapping cries of anguish, almost like the barking of adog; then it ceased.
"What on earth is that, Harry?" ejaculated Roger, looking at his friend,on whose forehead the cold perspiration was now standing in beads."What an awful sound!"
"I am afraid, my friend," replied Harry, "that it means that some poormortal is undergoing torture almost greater than he can bear. Whatdevils these inquisitors are! If I could but be at the head of a fewhundred English seamen at this moment, would I not pull this place oftorture about their ears; and would I not put a few of them to thetorture themselves, just to teach them by experience what it feels like,and as a warning to the rest! God help that poor wretch, whoever he maybe! What a fearful, awful sound it is! This is getting dreadful," hewent on, as another shrill and blood-curdling scream broke on theirears, quavering as it was with the extremity of fearful agony, yet notquite so loud as before, as though the unfortunate individual werelosing his strength.
"To be imprisoned here, and not to be able to do anything to help thepoor fellow! Oh, they are fiends in human shape!" cried Roger, stampinghis foot on the ground in impotent fury.
Then came a sound which made the lads start and look apprehensively ateach other. It was the noise of footsteps approaching down the longpassage at the end of which their own cell was situated.