CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
RETRIBUTION.
It was a trifle over thirty-six hours from the moment of the deliveranceof Don Hermoso and his wife and son when the _Thetis_, brilliant in allthe bravery of white enamel paint, gilt figurehead and ornamentalscroll-work, freshly varnished boats, and scintillating brasswork,steamed into Guantanamo harbour and let go her anchor off the littletown--or village, for it is scarcely more--of Caimamera. The visit ofthe yacht to this out-of-the-way spot was ostensibly for the purpose ofenabling that erratic and irresponsible young Englishman, her owner, toenjoy a day or two's fishing, Guantanamo harbour being noted for thevariety of fish with which its waters teem, and the excellent sportwhich they afford; but Jack's first act was to go ashore and pay anearly visit to the telegraph office, from which he dispatched a cipherwire to Don Ramon Bergera, briefly acquainting that gentleman with thebare facts of the rescue and Dona Isolda's death. Then he allowed thecrew to take a couple of boats and go fishing, while he devoted himselfto the arduous task of comforting and consoling his friends as best hecould; indeed, that had been his chief occupation from the moment whenthe Montijos had first come on board the yacht from the convict ship.Nor were his efforts altogether unavailing, although it was exceedinglydifficult to find words of comfort for those whose hearts were stillbleeding from the tragic loss of the being who was dearest to them all.With the Senora Montijo Jack was much more successful than with herhusband and son, for the poor soul's reason was entirely gone, and tosuch an extent, indeed, that she seemed to have completely forgottenevery circumstance connected with their recent misfortunes, appearing tomerely remember Jack as someone with whom certain pleasant memories,vaguely recalled, were connected, and in whose society she thereforetook pleasure. She very rarely spoke, never rationally, but was contentto walk fore and aft the deck by the hour, with her hand on Jack'ssupporting arm and her eyes gazing dreamily at the deck planks. Shetook even more pleasure in Jack's society than she did in that of herhusband and son, both of whom were at this time gloomy, saturnine,silent brooders upon revenge.
On the second day after their arrival in Guantanamo harbour there came aletter from Don Ramon, briefly congratulating Jack upon his success andthe Montijos upon their deliverance, and requesting them to remain wherethey were for the present, as he had been unable to gather any definitenews, but was busily conducting a number of enquiries. Then, after thelapse of a full week, there came another letter from the same source,informing them that the writer had received a communication from SenorCalderon, Don Hermoso's manager, stating that Senor Alvaros--nowpromoted to the rank of major--had appeared at the hacienda with theintelligence that Don Hermoso and his family, having been found guiltyof the crime of conspiracy against the Spanish Government, had beenshipped off to Fernando Po for life; and the estates, having beensequestrated, had been given to him as a reward for meritorious service:furthermore, that, Senor Calderon having had long experience in themanagement of the estate, Major Alvaros was disposed to allow him toretain the post of manager, at least for the present, upon conditionthat he was found to serve his new master faithfully: and that, finally,Senor Calderon was henceforward to account to Major Alvaros for allincome and expenditure connected with the estate. Don Ramon then wenton to state that, upon receipt of this communication, he had taken itupon himself to pay a flying visit to Senor Calderon, upon whichoccasion he, Don Ramon, had informed the Senor of the escape of DonHermoso from the convict ship, and had instructed him to hold theproperty, at all hazards, until Don Hermoso's return. And the letterwound up by strongly urging Don Hermoso to return to his propertyforthwith and hold it against all comers, arming his peons anddependents, if necessary; although the writer was of opinion that theGovernment generally, and Alvaros in particular, would soon be much toobusy to find time to dispute Don Hermoso's right to the possession ofhis property.
Thereupon a council of war was held on the yacht's quarter-deck--themembers consisting of Don Hermoso, Carlos, Jack, and Milsom--at which itwas ultimately decided that the _Thetis_ should weigh anchor forthwithand run over to Calonna, there to land Don Hermoso, the Senora, Carlos,and Jack, who would then proceed to the hacienda with all speed; whilethe yacht, under Milsom's command, was to proceed to the Laguna deCortes, and there remain concealed until it should be seen in what wayshe could best be employed, after which Milsom was to return by boat toCalonna, and from thence make his way to the hacienda, in order that hemight be on the spot to receive such verbal instructions as might benecessary. This arrangement was duly carried out, and the evening ofthe following day witnessed the return of the little party to the homewhich they had so joyously left some months before, little dreaming ofthe sad circumstances under which they would next gaze upon the familiarsurroundings.
They were welcomed back by the _employes_ of the estate with every signof the utmost satisfaction, tempered with deep and sincere sorrow at thetragic fate of the young and beautiful daughter of the house, who hadcontrived during her short life to render herself idolised by everyindividual in her father's service, from Senor Calderon downward. Inthe presence of the master and mistress the negroes, with that innatesense of delicacy which governs their conduct toward those whom theylove, were careful that the signs of their grief at the loss of theirbeloved young mistress should be confined to a few respectfulexpressions of sympathy; but when Mama Faquita, Senorita Isolda's oldnurse, having extracted from Carlos a tolerably full and detailedaccount of the circumstances that had culminated in her beloved youngmistress's death, went the round of the negro huts that night, shekindled in the breasts of her fellows a flame of fury and vengefullonging 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 inthe management of his vast estates should occupy only a secondaryposition in his mind; and that he should relegate that management almostentirely to the capable hands and conscientious mind of Senor Calderon,giving the first and most important place to the advancement, by everymeans in his power, of the aims of the revolutionaries. With thisobject, therefore, he shut himself up in his own private room for thethree weeks following his return home, and plunged strenuously into avoluminous correspondence with Marti, Jesus Rabi, Antonio Maceo, MaximoGomez, and other more or less prominent insurgent leaders, makingexhaustive enquiry into the condition and prospects of the party, andoffering advice and assistance in its several projects: while Jack andCarlos made long excursions in various directions for the purpose ofpersonally ascertaining the feeling of the inhabitants and adding fuelto the smouldering flame of insurrection by every means in their power;for it may be said at once that the shocking tyranny, the cruelinjustice, and the callous indifference on the part of the islandauthorities which had rendered possible such a disaster as that whichhad befallen his friends had kindled in Jack Singleton's breast suchfiery indignation, and such a loathing abhorrence, that--quixotic as theresolve may seem to some--he had at once determined to throw in his lotwith that of the Montijos, and assist by every means in his power tofree Cuba from Spanish misrule.
In this fashion nearly two months went by, during which, by DonHermoso's instructions, the armament of the _Thetis_ had beendismounted, remounted upon field carriages constructed by the carpenterand engineers of the vessel, landed, with their ammunition, at variouspoints on the coast, and delivered over to the armed bands of therevolutionaries, who were by this time springing up like mushrooms allover the island; and the yacht, under Milsom's command, had beendispatched to New York for further supplies. And during the whole ofthis time, thanks to the fact that the secret had been kept fromeverybody but sympathisers whose discretion might be relied on, therescue and return of the Montijo family remained unsuspected by theSpanish 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 w
ere to be madefor his reception. This message Calderon at once handed to Don Hermoso,with a request for instructions as to how the matter should be dealtwith; whereupon Jack and Carlos, who happened to be at hand that day, atonce undertook the duty of receiving the Spaniard suitably.
It was nearly five o'clock in the evening when Alvaros, hot, tired, anddusty from his long ride from Pinar del Rio and his previous journey bytrain, drew rein and dismounted before the broad flight of steps leadingup to the gallery which ran round the house, and, handing over his horseto an obsequious negro who was in waiting, proceeded to ascend thesteps, his brow wrinkled into a frown of displeasure at Calderon'sfailure to be present to give him a suitably respectful greeting uponhis arrival. He reached the top of the steps, paused for a moment toglance around him at the wide prospect visible from the commandingelevation of the gallery, and then strode forward to enter the house,the wide folding doors of which stood, as usual, invitingly open. Butas he did so, and ere his foot reached the threshold, he was confrontedby Carlos, who, emerging suddenly from the obscurity of the entrancehall, levelled a revolver straight at the Spaniard's right eye, so thatbefore that individual could recover from his astonishment, he foundhimself gazing into the grooved barrel.
"Hands up, you villain and murderer!" exclaimed the young Cuban, glaringsavagely along the sights of the levelled weapon into Senor Alvaros'eye: "hands up; or I will blow your worthless brains out with as littlecompunction as that with which I would crush a venomous snake beneath myheel! 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, whichtold 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 hishands. Had he only known to what that was the prelude he would probablyhave 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. Atthe sound a number of negroes appeared, one of them bearing a long coilof raw-hide rope, with a noose at one end of it, in his hand. This ropeJack took from the hands of the negro and, dropping the noose overAlvaros' head, drew it fairly tight, and then handed the rest of therope back to the black.
"Senor," exclaimed the quaking Spaniard, with quivering lips, "are youabout to murder me?"
"Not just yet," answered Jack cheerfully. "What we may eventually do Iwill not pretend to say, because, you see, such vermin as you are notfit to live; but at present we are only going to give you the secondinstalment--I gave you the first, you will remember"--pointing to theofficer's still stiff elbow--"of the punishment due to you for yourinfamous treatment of Don Hermoso and his family."
The fellow was by this time white as a corpse, and his lips weretremulous with terror, yet he strove to carry things off with a highhand.
"I presume, Senor," he said, "that it is due to your instrumentalitythat that young ruffian is here at this moment, instead of on his way toFernando Po; and as he is here, I take it for granted that the remainingmembers of the family are not far off. But rest assured that a terribleretribution awaits you, not only for this outrage upon me, but also foryour rescue of prisoners sentenced by the Spanish Government totransportation!"
"Yes," said Jack; "no doubt; I am quite willing to take your word forthat. But," altering his tone from one of banter to that ofconcentrated anger, "let me tell you, Senor Alvaros, that SenoritaIsolda Montijo is dead--owing to your cruelty--and for that and yourother crimes retribution is about to fall on you. And this is the firstpart of it!"
Saying which, he unbuckled Alvaros' sword, drew the weapon from itssheath, and snapped the blade across his knee.
"There!" he exclaimed, flinging the pieces from him; "you will neveragain disgrace that weapon by wearing it. Lead him away, Pedro; and ifhe attempts any nonsense, just choke him with that lariat."
"This way, Senor," exclaimed Pedro, roughly jerking the lariat in thedirection of the steps, as a hint to the prisoner that he was to descendthem; and in this ignominious fashion the once arrogant but now coweringand cringing Spaniard was led away under Jack's supervision, whileCarlos, selecting a heavy riding-whip from the rack, followed theprocession. The prisoner was conducted to the negro quarters, whichwere situated about half a mile from the house, with a belt of timberbetween it and them; and there he was stripped to his trousers, andfirmly lashed to a post which had been hastily erected for the purpose.Then, the whole of the negroes employed upon the plantation having beenassembled, Carlos related to the blacks the several sufferings andindignities which Alvaros had caused to be inflicted upon the members ofthe 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 finishedhis story he flogged Alvaros until the miserable wretch screamed andhowled for mercy, offering the most abject excuses and apologies for hisconduct, and vowing by all the saints that if Carlos would but releasehim he would leave Cuba, never to return; that he would surrender theMontijo estates to their rightful owner; that he would never breathe toa single living soul a syllable as to what had passed; and that he wouldalso do a number of other unlikely, not to say impossible, things.Then, when his arm was tired, and he could flog no longer, Carlosdesisted, and ordered Alvaros to be cast loose from the stake andsecurely confined in an empty tobacco shed, with a negro on guard at thedoor of the building to see that he did not escape. When at length theshrinking, cringing creature was hustled into his prison and securelybound, Carlos turned to him and said:
"You have now received the second instalment of punishment for youratrocious crime. You will be kept here until it is convenient to removeyou, being fed meanwhile upon bread and water. And when a convenienttime arrives you will be placed on board a ship and marooned, which willbe the final instalment of the punishment which your evil deeds havecalled down upon your head. The best thing I can wish you is that whatyou have suffered to-day, and will suffer in the future, will bring hometo you the evil of your ways, and lead to your sincere repentance forthem." And therewith he passed from Senor Alvaros' sight--to be seen byhim no more.
That same night, when the white people had all retired to rest in thegreat casa, Mama Faquita stole away down to the negro quarters and,going from hut to hut, roused their occupants and summoned them to agreat palaver in the open space which the huts surrounded, and in whichthe children were wont to play. The scene was a weirdly picturesqueone, for, prior to rousing the negroes, Mama had kindled a great fire inthe centre of the open space; and in front of this, in a greatsemicircle, the negroes congregated, squatting on their heels androlling their eyeballs in the flickering light of the flames, while Mamaaddressed them. They were all free, but had all been slaves not so verymany years before: many of them were born Africans, with their savageinstincts still practically as strong within them as they had ever been;while in the case of the rest, although their association with white menfrom their birth had rendered them more amenable in some respects thanwere the more recent importations, the tenacity with which they hadadhered to their fetish-worship, with all its secret and horriblyrevolting customs, tended to keep them still utterly savage at heart,and only too ready to lend a willing ear to any suggestion which offeredthem an excuse to indulge their inherent lust for cruelty. Moreover,the African black who has been a slave is a singular combination of goodand evil: on the one hand, he is capable of affection and devotion, toan extraordinary degree, toward those who have treated him well; while,on the other, he is equally capable of the most ferocious and implacablehatred of those who have injured him or those he loves; also, he isextraordinarily impressionable. Mama Faquita, being herself a full-blooded negress, was of course perfectly well aware of thesepeculiarities in the nature of her audience; and she played upon them asa skilled musician does upon a sensitively responsive instrument. Shedwelt eloquently and at length upon the invariable kindness with whichth
ey had one and all been treated by the _amo_ and his family, andespecially by the young Senorita, whom some of them at least were ableto remember as a little, toddling baby, and whom they all had loved aspassionately as though she had been their own; and as she spoke thus thetears of grief streamed down her cheeks, and she wrung her hands inanguish evoking a ready and sympathetic response from her hearers. Thenshe went on to recall to their memory the sad homecoming of two monthsago, and the dreadful tale that they had been told when they asked whythe Senorita had not also returned: and finally she reminded them--asthough any reminder were by this time necessary--that the author of thefamily's woe now lay, ay, at that very moment, imprisoned in the tobaccoshed, within a stone's-throw of the spot where they were then assembled.She spoke with qualified satisfaction of the punishment which the youngmaster 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 contendedthat it did not go nearly far enough, considering the monstrouscharacter of the crime of which the prisoner had been guilty; and sheasserted her conviction that white men did not know how to punish, thatthey were altogether too squeamish in their notions, particularly in thematter of dealing mercifully with those who had injured them; and thatit was only the negro who thoroughly understood how to devise apunishment to properly fit the crime.
It was enough; there was no need for her to say another word. Withconsummate skill she had gradually wrought her audience up to a pitch ofdemoniac fury; she had pictured her--and their--beloved young mistressin the power of the wretch who crouched with smarting, lacerated backyonder in the shed--insulted, ill-treated, and finally driven to madnessand death by him: and now, at a word from one of them, the whole body ofnegroes sprang to their feet and, with low, hissing, mutteringexecrations and threats, infinitely more terrifying to listen to thanthe loudest yells of ferocity, ran to the shed and, with a few low-murmured words of explanation to the guard, demanded the surrender ofthe prisoner. The demand was conceded with scarcely a word of protest,and five minutes later the miserable Alvaros, in a speechless frenzy offear, was being hurried along a lonely bush path, known only to thenegroes, to a spot some three miles distant. What happened to him whenhe arrived there must be left untold; suffice it to say that MajorAlvaros was never more seen of men, and the mystery of his disappearanceremains unsolved to this day, although Carlos Montijo and Jack Singletonare under the delusion that they know what became of him. Furthermore,the inhabitants of the hacienda were never troubled by inconvenientenquiries about him, for it afterwards transpired that when he set outupon his fateful journey he had not thought fit to say whither he wasgoing, or how long he intended to be absent; by the time, therefore,that his prolonged absence from duty had provoked enquiry, all trace ofhim was completely lost.
The male occupants of the house were just finishing early breakfast nextmorning when Senor Calderon presented himself before them, in acondition of considerable mental discomposure, with the intelligencethat the prisoner had apparently contrived to effect his escape; for oneof the negroes had just come up to the house with the report that, uponhis opening the door of the tobacco shed to give the captive hisbreakfast, Alvaros was found to have disappeared, and no trace of himhad thus far been discovered. This was distinctly alarming news, for itwas instantly recognised that if Alvaros had really contrived to getclear away, he would undoubtedly make the best of his way back to Havanaand there report to the authorities the violence to which he had beensubjected; and also, possibly, the rescue of the Montijos from theconvict ship, though mention of the latter would probably depend uponwhether their conviction had been the result of representations to theCapitan-General, or whether, as Don Ramon Bergera had surmised, it hadbeen the work of Alvaros alone. In either case, the consequences werelikely to be quite serious to the Montijos; and Carlos, accompanied byJack and Calderon, at once hurried away to investigate the circumstancesof the alleged escape.
Upon their arrival at the tobacco shed they found the door of thebuilding still locked and the negro guard still posted before it, thedoor having been re-fastened, as Calderon explained, immediately uponthe discovery of the prisoner's disappearance. Entering the shed, theyat once satisfied themselves as to the truth of the statement that itslate occupant was no longer in it, for the building was absolutelyempty, and, being a perfectly plain structure, with simply four stonewalls, a cement floor, and an unceiled roof, there was no nook or crannyin 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 beforebeing left on the previous evening, was lying upon the floor,immediately beneath one of the large, shuttered openings in the wallswhich were used for the admission of light and air into the shed asrequired. The position of the rope naturally led to an examination ofthe opening beneath which it lay; and it was then found that the massivebolts securing the shutter had been drawn, and that therefore there wasnothing to prevent the prisoner from escaping through the opening--provided that he could free himself from the rope and reach it. But howhe had contrived to accomplish these two things was the mystery: forCarlos and Jack had both been present during the lashing-up of Alvaros,and they both felt that they would have been fully prepared to declarethat for the prisoner to release himself would be a simpleimpossibility, so securely had he been bound; while the sill of theopening was quite nine feet from the floor, and for a man to reach itwithout the help of a ladder, or some similar aid, seemed equallyimpossible,--and there was no such aid in the building. It occurred toJack that the prisoner, after freeing himself from his bonds, might havesucceeded in throwing the loop of the rope over one of the shutterbolts, and so have drawn himself up; but to accomplish such a feat inabsolute darkness again seemed an absolute impossibility. Altogether,the circumstances seemed to be enveloped in impenetrable mystery; therewas only one indisputable fact, which was that the prisoner was gone.Then the negro guard was severely questioned, but he seemed quite unableto throw any light upon the matter; his statement was that he hadexercised the utmost vigilance all through the night, that he had heardno sound of movement on the part of the prisoner, had noticed nothing tosuggest an attempt at escape, and was utterly confounded when, uponunlocking the door to take in the prisoner's breakfast, he found thatthe bird had flown. This was his story, and no amount of cross-examination caused him to deviate in the slightest degree from it; forwhen a negro lays himself out to deceive, the fact that he is lyingthrough thick and thin causes him no qualms of conscience.
The investigation thus conclusively pointed to the fact that theprisoner had somehow contrived to escape; and, that having beenestablished, the obviously proper thing to do was to endeavour torecapture him. Horses were therefore ordered to be saddled and taken upto the house; a Fantee negro, who had been re-named Juan, and who hadthe reputation of being a marvellously expert tracker, was ordered toexamine the ground about the tobacco shed for tracks, and to holdhimself ready to accompany the hunters; and Jack and Carlos thenreturned to the house to equip themselves. In something less than halfan hour the party, consisting of Jack and Carlos, mounted, and eacharmed with a rifle, and half a dozen negroes, including Juan, set out.
The hunt began at the tobacco shed, beneath the unbolted shutter ofwhich Juan declared that, despite the hardness of the ground, he hadsucceeded in detecting the footprints of the fugitive; and thence ittook its course northward, strange to say, in the direction of themountains, instead of toward Pinar del Rio, as the two young white menhad naturally expected. This was so surprising that, as soon as thedirection became apparent, Carlos called a halt and openly expressed hisconviction that the Fantee was making a mistake; but Juan confidentlydeclared that he was doing nothing of the sort, and, in support of hisstatement, pointed to certain barely perceptible marks here and there onthe ground, which he asserted were the tracks of the fugitive--thisassertion being corroborated by the other negroes. To the eyes of thewhite men the marks in question were so very slight and vague as toconvey absol
utely no meaning at all; indeed, they could not in somecases convince themselves that there really were any marks; but then theground was so dry and hard that even their horses left scarcely a traceof their passage: they were therefore obliged to take Juan's word for itthat they were on the right track, and follow where he led.
They were of opinion that, considering Alvaros' condition after theterrific punishment which Carlos had inflicted upon him only a few hourspreviously, and the circumstance that he seemed to have been travellingfor several hours in darkness, over country that must have beenabsolutely strange to him, he could not have made very rapid progress,or gone very far; and after the first hour they were in momentaryexpectation of coming upon him: but mile after mile was traversed, andstill Juan asserted that the fugitive was yet some distance ahead, andthat they did not appear to be gaining on him very rapidly--due, as thenegro pointed out, to the extreme difficulty of tracking over such hardand, for the most part stony, ground. The fact was that Juan and hisfellow-negroes, having arranged among themselves a course of actionduring the short period while Carlos and Jack were preparing for theexpedition, were enacting a very cleverly carried out piece of comedy,so cleverly performed, indeed, that neither of the young men had theslightest suspicion that they were being deceived.
At length the track, which had led them steadily over rising groundalmost from the moment of starting, conducted the party to the entranceof a very wild, romantic, and picturesque-looking gorge which seemed topierce right into the very heart of the mountains. For some time thegoing had been growing increasingly difficult, especially for the twohorsemen; and now a single glance ahead sufficed to show that it mustspeedily become impossible for mounted men, for the side of the mountaingrew increasingly steep, as one looked forward, until, about a quarterof a mile farther on, it seemed to be practically perpendicular, whilethe pine trees grew so thickly that in places it appeared as thoughthere would be scarcely room for a man, much less a horse, to pass;moreover, the side of the hill was covered with big outcrops of rock,interspersed with loose boulders, to pass over and among which wouldrequire a clear head, a steady eye, and a sure foot. The two young mentherefore determined to dismount forthwith and proceed on foot, leavingtheir horses in charge of one of the negroes.
And it was well that they did so, for the path almost immediately grewso steep and difficult that before they had advanced another hundredyards the party found it necessary to frequently drop on their hands andknees to pass some of the more awkward places without being precipitatedinto the stream which they heard brawling some hundreds of feet belowthem at the bottom of the ravine. And now, as they slowly and withdifficulty made their way along the steep mountain-side, a low murmur,gradually growing in strength and volume of sound, told them that theywere approaching a waterfall or cataract of some sort: and after anotherhalf-hour of exhausting and perilous crawling, and slipping, and slidingover the loose and shaley ground, they came in sight of it as it openedout before them from behind an enormous, precipitous crag--a solidcolumn of water about twenty feet in diameter, leaping out of a narrowcleft in the rock some three hundred feet above them, and graduallyresolving itself into mist as it plunged down into the dark and gloomydepths of the gorge below. To Carlos--and still more to Jack--it seemedimpossible that the fugitive should have chosen to pursue the trackwhich they were now following--for to where did it lead? The place wasquite new to Carlos; he had never been there before, and it seemedunlikely in the extreme that a stranger to the neighbourhood as Alvaroswas would know more about it than one who had dwelt only a few miles offduring practically his whole life: yet Juan was now pressing on, a longway ahead, as though he were following on a hot scent, and presently hedisappeared altogether in a thick cluster of fir trees high up the sideof the hill. Ten minutes later he emerged on the other side of theclump and went scrambling toward the spot where the stream of waterspouted out of the rock. Then Carlos saw him suddenly stop and looksteadily down the almost vertical side of the mountain, then at theground at his feet. It took the two lads nearly a quarter of an hour toreach the spot where Juan stood, now surrounded by the other fournegroes, to whom he was talking animatedly; and, as they approached, theFantee pointed to some scars on the hillside which looked as though theyhad been quite recently made by the passage of some heavy body.
"Look, Senores," he cried; "that is where the Spaniard has gone! Aloose boulder caught him just here and swept him down into the gorgebelow. We shall never see him again!"
Carlos and Jack looked. Yes; the marks were precisely such as a fallingboulder would make, and they were apparently quite fresh, possibly lessthan half an hour old. But how did Juan know that Alvaros had gone downthe hillside with the boulder? Jack asked the question.
"Because," answered the black triumphantly, "he came as far as this--aswe have seen by his footprints--but went no farther; there are no morefootprints to be found. And see, the boulder struck the ground justhere"--pointing to a big, raw dint in the soil--"and bounded off,striking again down there where you see that mark. It must have struckhere just as the Spaniard reached the spot, and hurled him down to thebottom of the gorge before it. He is doubtless down there at the bottomof the stream, at this moment, pinned down by the boulder that killedhim!" And the other negroes emphatically corroborated the statementsand suggestions.
To Jack and Carlos the theory enunciated by Juan appeared quitepossible. Of course they had to accept Juan's word for it that thefugitive's footsteps had been followed thus far, and had utterlydisappeared at the precise spot where the boulder--or whatever it was--had struck. But, this much granted, the remainder of the story seemedquite plausible, seemed indeed the only possible explanation; and sinceit was quite impossible to test its truth or falsehood withoutdescending to the river below--which was also an impossibility--theywere disposed to accept it as true.
And thus, very materially assisted by the fortuitous fall of a boulderdown a hillside, did the negroes on Senor Montijo's estate successfullyhoodwink their white masters, and effectually and for ever put a stop toany further enquiries as to what had become of Major Alvaros, of HisSpanish Majesty's light infantry, and erstwhile Governor of La Jacoba.