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THE DUST OF CONFLICT
"I AM, YOU WILL REMEMBER, AN ADVENTURER."]
THE DUST OF CONFLICT
By HAROLD BINDLOSS
AUTHOR OF "ALTON OF SOMASCO,""THE CATTLE-BARON'S DAUGHTER," ETC.
With illustrations in color byW. HERBERT DUNTON
NEW YORK - FREDERICK A.STOKES COMPANY - PUBLISHERS
Copyright, 1907,BY FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY
Published in January, 1907
All rights reserved
THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A.
CONTENTS
-- I -- VIOLET WAYNE'S CONFIDENCE
-- II -- DAVIDSON MEETS HIS MATCH
-- III -- TONY CANNOT DECIDE
-- IV -- THE VERDICT
-- V -- APPLEBY MAKES A FRIEND
-- VI -- THE SCHOONER "VENTURA"
-- VII -- THE DESCENT OF SANTA MARTA
-- VIII -- APPLEBY'S PRISONER
-- IX -- THE BREAKING OF THE NET
-- X -- AN UNEXPECTED MEETING
-- XI -- THE ALCALDE'S BALL
-- XII -- PANCHO'S WARNING
-- XIII -- THE SECOND ATTEMPT
-- XIV -- APPLEBY PROVES OBDURATE
-- XV -- TONY'S LAST OPPORTUNITY
-- XVI -- DANE COP
-- XVII -- TONY IS PAINFULLY ASTONISHED
-- XVIII -- NETTIE ASKS A QUESTION
-- XIX -- POSITIVE PROOF
-- XX -- FOUND GUILTY
-- XXI -- TONY'S DECISION
-- XXII -- MORALES MAKES A PROPOSAL
-- XXIII -- APPLEBY TAKES A RISK
-- XXIV -- RESPITED
-- XXV -- MORALES SITS STILL
-- XXVI -- THE SEIZING OF SAN CRISTOVAL
-- XXVII -- HARDING'S APPROBATION
-- XXVIII -- TONY MAKES AMENDS
-- XXIX -- TONY PERSISTS
-- XXX -- MORALES PRESERVES HIS FAME
-- XXXI -- STRUCK OFF THE ROLL
-- XXXII -- APPLEBY LEAVES SANTA MARTA
-- XXXIII -- VIOLET REGAINS HER LIBERTY
-- XXXIV -- THE RIGHT MAN
THE DUST OF CONFLICT
I -- VIOLET WAYNE'S CONFIDENCE
THE November afternoon was drawing towards its close when BernardAppleby stood with a gun on his shoulder in an English country lane. Itwas a costly hammerless gun, but it had been lent to him, and the factthat his right shoulder was sore and there was a raw place on one of hisfingers was not without its significance. Appleby, indeed, seldomenjoyed an opportunity of shooting pheasants, and had been stationed atwhat proved to be a particularly warm corner of the big beech wood. Herehe had, however, acquitted himself considerably better than might havebeen expected, for he had a steady eye and the faculty of making a quickand usually accurate decision, as well as a curious coolness in action,which was otherwise somewhat at variance with an impulsive disposition.These qualities are useful in more serious affairs than game shooting,and it was fortunate for Appleby, who was a poor man, that he possessedthem, because they comprised his whole worldly advantages.
A little farther up the lane his kinsman, Anthony Palliser, was talkingto a keeper, and though Appleby could not hear what they said, there wassomething in the man's manner which puzzled him. It was certainly notrespectful, and Appleby could almost have fancied that he wasthreatening his companion. This, however, appeared improbable, forAnthony Palliser was a man of some little importance in that part of thecountry, and endowed with an indolent good humor which had gained himthe good will of everybody. Still, Appleby had seen that complaisancecan be carried too far, and knowing rather better than most people howlittle stiffness there was in Palliser's character, watched him somewhatcuriously until the keeper moved away.
Then Palliser came up and joined him, and they turned homewards down thelane. They were not unlike in appearance, and of much the same age--Appleby twenty-six, Palliser a year younger. Both were healthy youngEnglishmen, but there was an indefinite something in the poise ofAppleby's head, and the very way he put his feet down, which suggestedwho possessed the most character. He had clear blue eyes which met onefearlessly, and into which there crept at times a little recklesstwinkle, crisp brown hair, and lips which could set firmly together,while he held himself well, considering that he labored for the mostpart at a desk.
"What do you think of keeper Davidson?" asked Palliser.
"A surly brute!" said Appleby. "Ill-conditioned, but tenacious. Have youany reason for asking?"
He fancied for a moment that Palliser had something to tell him, but theyounger man smiled somewhat mirthlessly. "I don't like the fellow, andwonder why my respected uncle tolerates him," he said. "He is certainlytenacious. You have a trick of weighing up folks correctly, Bernard."
"It is fortunate I have some qualification for my profession, and it'sabout the only one," said Appleby dryly. "Still, it did not need muchpenetration to see that you and he held different opinions."
Palliser appeared irresolute. "The fact is, he would have the nettingput up in the wrong place, and spoiled what should have been our bestdrive," he said. "It was by his bad management they had to put two ofthe game hampers in the dog-cart, which sent us home on foot. I hope youdon't mind that. It's a pleasant evening for walking, and you know youdon't get much exercise."
"Not in the least!" said Appleby. "Don't make excuses, Tony. It isn'teverybody who would have walked home with me, and it was very good ofyou to persuade Godfrey Palliser to have me down at all. It is the onlytaste I get of this kind of thing--one fortnight in the year, you see--andI'm considerably fonder of it than is good for me."
Palliser flushed a trifle, for he was sympathetic and somewhatsensitive, though his comrade had intended to express no bitterness. Byand by he stopped where the lane wound over the crest of a hill, and itwas possible that each guessed the other's thoughts as they looked downinto the valley.
A beech wood with silver firs in it rolled down the face of the hill,and the maze of leafless twigs and dusky spires cut sharp against thesoft blueness of the evening sky, though warm hues of russet and crimsonstill chequered the dusky green below. Beyond it, belts of thin whitemist streaked the brown plough land in the hollow where Appleby couldsee the pale shining of a winding river. Across that in turn, meadow andcoppice rolled away past the white walls of a village bowered inorchards, and faded into the creeping night beyond a dim church towerand the dusky outline of Northrop Hall. As they watched, its long row ofwindows twinkled into brilliancy, and the sound of running water came upwith the faint astringent smell of withered leaves out of the hollow.Appleby drew in a deep breath, and his face grew a trifle grim.
"And all that will be yours some day, Tony!" he said. "You ought to feelyourself a lucky man."
Palliser did not appear enthusiastic. "There are," he said, "alwaysdrawbacks, and when there are none one generally makes them. The placeis over head and heels in debt, and setting anything straight,especially if it entailed retrenchment, was never a favorite occupationof mine. Besides, a good deal depends upon my pleasing Godfrey Palliser,and there are times when it's a trifle difficult to get on with him."
"Still, your wife will have plenty of money."
Appleby almost fancied that Palliser winced as they turned away. "Yes,"he said. "Violet and I are, however, not married yet, and we'll talk ofsomething else. Are you liking the business any better?"
Appleby laughed. "I never liked it in the least, but Godfrey Pallisergave me my education, which was rather more than anybody could haveexpected of him, and I had the sense to see that if I was ever able topractise for myself the business he could influenc
e would be a goodthing for me. My worthy employer, however, evidently intends holding onforever, and the sordid, monotonous drudgery has been gettinginsupportable lately. You may be able to understand that, though youhaven't spent six years in a country solicitor's office."
"No," said Palliser sympathetically. "I never go into such places exceptwhen I want money, as I frequently do. Still, is there anything elseopen to you?"
Appleby straightened his shoulders with a little resolute gesture, and--for they were heading west--pointed vaguely towards the pale eveningstar.
"There are still lands out there where they want men who can ride andshoot, and take their chances as they come; while if I was born to beanything in particular it was either a jockey or a soldier."
Palliser nodded. "Yes," he said, "you got it from both sides, and it wasrather a grim joke to make you a solicitor. Still, it's a risky thing tothrow one's living over, and I have a fancy that my uncle likes you. Youare a connection, anyway, and one never knows what may happen."
"Godfrey Palliser has done all he means to do for me, and even if therewere nobody else, your children would have a prior claim, Tony."
Palliser looked up sharply, and though the light was very dim there wassomething in his face that once more puzzled his companion. "I thinkthat is a little personal--and I wouldn't make too sure," he said.
They said nothing further, but tramped on in the growing darkness, pastfarm steadings where the sleek cattle flocked about the byres, into thelittle village where the smell of wood smoke was in the frosty air,through the silent churchyard where generations of the Pallisers lay,and up the beech avenue that led to Northrop Hall. It would, as Applebyhad said, all be his comrade's some day. They parted at the head of thegreat stairway where the long corridors branched off, and Appleby lookedat Palliser steadily as he said--
"One could fancy there was something on your mind tonight, Tony."
Palliser did not answer, and Appleby went to his room to dress fordinner, which was a somewhat unusual proceeding for him. Nothing ofmoment occurred during the meal, and it was nobody's fault that he feltnot quite at home, as he had done at other functions of the kind. Thegayeties of the Metropolis were unknown, except by hearsay, to him, andit was but once a year he met Tony's friends at Northrop Hall. It was,however, not quite by coincidence, as he at first fancied, that heafterwards found Miss Violet Wayne, Tony's fiancee, sitting a littleapart from the rest in the drawing-room. He did not think that either ofthem suggested it, but presently she was walking by his side in theconservatory, and when they passed a seat almost hidden under the frondsof a tree fern she sat down in it. The place was dimly lighted, but theycould see each other, and Appleby had realized already that Violet Waynewas distinctly good to look upon.
Her face was almost severely regular in outline and feature, with butthe faintest warmth in its creamy tinting; but this was atoned for bythe rich coloring of her hair, which gleamed with the hues of gold andburnished copper. There was also a curious reposefulness about her, andAppleby had wondered why a young woman of her distinction had displayedthe kindliness she had more than once done to him. He was grateful forit, but what he had seen of men and women during his legal training hadmade him shrewd.
"This place is pleasantly cool and green, but I am not sure that is whywe are here," he said. "In any case, I am glad, because I am going awayto-morrow, and wished to thank you for your graciousness to me. I am,as, of course, you know, an outsider here, and you have in severaltactful ways made my stay pleasant to me."
Violet Wayne looked at him with big calm eyes, but made no disclaimer."You are a relative of Godfrey Palliser!"
"A distant one; but my mother married a penniless army captain, and aranker. He had won his commission by worth and valor, but that was noreason why the Pallisers should hold out a hand to him."
Violet Wayne nodded gravely. "Still, Godfrey Palliser sent you to schoolwith Tony. You were always good friends, though I think he told me youwere born abroad?"
"Yes," said Appleby, "he was my first English friend. My father died atGibraltar, and my mother stayed on there until she followed him. She didnot want to forget him, and living is cheap in Spain. Tony and I foughtour way through three schools together."
"I think it was you who fought for him," said Miss Wayne, with a littlesmile. "He has, I may mention, told me a good deal about you, and thatis one reason why I feel that I could trust you. You would, I believe,respect any confidence a woman reposed in you."
Appleby flushed a trifle. "I fancy I told you I was grateful," he said."The little kindnesses you have shown me mean so much to a man whoselife is what mine has been. One gets very few of them, you see."
"Still," the girl said quietly, "when we first met you were not quitesure of me."
The color showed a trifle plainer in Appleby's forehead, for he had nothad the advantages of his companion's training, but he looked at herwith steady eyes. "You can set that down as due to the pride of theclass I sprang from on one side--I feared a rebuff which would have hurtme. I was, you will remember, Tony's friend long before he met you!"
"And now?"
Appleby made her a little inclination. "Tony," he said, "is a very goodfellow, as men go, but I do not know that he is good enough for you."
Violet Wayne smiled and then sat still, looking at him with a curioussoftness in her eyes. "He is in trouble," she said simply, "and I amfond of him. That is why I have led you on."
Appleby rose, and there was a suggestion of resolute alertness in hisattitude, though his head was bent. "Don't ask me for any help that Ican give. Let me offer it," he said. "I don't know that I am expressingmyself fittingly, but it is not only because you will be Tony's wifethat you can command whatever little I can do."
The girl saw his lips set and the glint in his eyes, and knew he meantwhat he said. She also saw his chivalrous respect for herself, and,being a young woman of keen perceptions, also surmised that the son ofthe ranker possessed certain qualities which were lacking in the man shewas to marry. She was, as she had admitted, fond of Tony, but most ofthose who knew and liked him guessed that he was unstable and weak aswater. Violet Wayne had, however, in spite of occasional misgivings, notquite realized that fact yet.
"I want you to help him because you are his friend--and mine, but itwould hurt him if you told him that I had asked you to; and I do noteven know what the trouble is," she said.
"I have pledged myself; but if you have failed to discover it how can Iexpect to succeed?"
Violet Wayne did not look at him this time. "There are some difficultiesa man would rather tell his comrade than the woman who is to be hiswife."
"I think, if I understand you aright, that you are completely and whollymistaken. If Tony is in any difficulty, it will be his usual one, thewant of money."
A tinge of color crept into the girl's face. "Then you will lend it himand come to me. I have plenty."
She rose as she spoke, and Appleby long afterwards remembered thepicture she made as she stood amidst the tall ferns with the faintwarmth in her face and the vague anxiety in her eyes. She was tall, andheld herself well, and once more he bent his head a trifle.
"I will do what I can," he said simply.
Violet Wayne left him, but she had seen his face, and felt that whateverit cost him the man would redeem his pledge; while Appleby, who wentoutside to smoke, paced thoughtfully up and down the terrace.
"If Tony has gone off the line in the usual direction he deserves to beshot," he said.
He went in by and by, and watched his comrade in the billiard room. Tonywas good at most games, but that night he bungled over some of thesimplest cannons, though Appleby remembered that he had shot remarkablywell during the afternoon. Still, he expected no opportunity of speakingto him alone until the morning, and when the rest took up their candlesretired to his room. He lay in a big chair thinking, when Tony came inand flung himself into another. Appleby noticed that his face was almosthaggard.
"Can you lend me ten
pounds?" he said.
"No," said Appleby dryly. "I had to venture an odd stake now and then,and do not play billiards well, while I am now in possession of aboutthree sovereigns over my railway fare home to-morrow. What do you wantthe money for?"
"I only want it until the bank at Darsley opens to-morrow. This is myuncle's house, of course, but I am, so to speak, running it for him, andI couldn't well go round borrowing from the men I asked to stay withme."
"It seems to me that you have not answered my question."
Tony showed more than a trace of embarrassment. He was, though apersonable man, somewhat youthful in appearance and manner, and a littlecolor crept into his forehead. Appleby, who remembered his promise, sawhis discomposure, and decided that as the bank would be open at ten onthe morrow Tony wanted the money urgently that night.
"Is there any reason why I should?" said the latter.
Appleby nodded. "I think there is," he said. "We have been friends along while, and it seems to me quite reasonable that I should want tohelp you. You are in a hole, Tony."
Palliser had not meant to make a confession, but he was afraid and weak,and Appleby was strong. "I am. It's a devilishly deep one, and I can'tget out," he said. "Well, I'll tell you. I'm in that condemned Davidsonthe keeper's hands, and he is squeezing the life out of me. You willremember his daughter Lucy, who lived at the lodge?"
"Blackmail!" said Appleby dryly. "Go on."
Tony took out and played with a cigar. "She was pretty, and you know Iwas always a trifle soft. Now and then I stopped as I passed, and talkedto her. I don't think she disliked it. Well, I don't remember exactlyhow it came about, but I made her a trifling wager, and, of course, Ilost it; while some fiend put it into my head to send her a littlebrooch, with a note, instead of the forfeit agreed on--I think it was abox of chocolate. I was away for a week or two, and when I came back shetold me she didn't think she ought to take anything of that kind fromme. There was nobody about the lodge--at least so I fancied--and Iinsisted upon putting the condemned thing on. I think I told you she waspretty."
"I have seen it for myself," said Appleby, whose face was a picture ofdisgust. "Go on!"
"Well," said Tony, "why the devil are you looking like that at me? Iwasn't engaged to Violet then, and I kissed her--and went awayimmediately. It is necessary that you should know this, you see."
Perhaps it was relief, for his comrade was more truthful than weak menusually are, but Appleby lapsed into a great burst of laughter. Tony,however, looked at him lugubriously.
"It really isn't in the least amusing--to me," he said. "It's anespecially risky business kissing that kind of young woman, especiallywhen anybody sees you. Still, I'd seen something in the girl's face thatwarned me, and on my word of honor the affair ended there; but in a weekor two, when I didn't answer the note she sent, Davidson came andworried me. Talked about his feelings and a motherless girl'sreputation, showed me the note I'd written her, and said a good dealabout witnesses. Well--you know I'm careless--I gave him five pounds, anote, and then saw he had one of his men hanging about. 'Go down to the"Black Bull," and get this fiver Mr. Palliser has given me changed,' hesaid."
"Clever!" said Appleby. "I begin to understand the thing."
"Well," said Tony, "I never went near his place since then, and the girlwent away, but soon after I was engaged to Violet, Davidson turned upagain. This time it was a more serious tale--the usual one--but you havegot to believe what I told you."
"Yes," said Appleby, "I think I can. You were often a fool, Tony, butthat contented you."
"I gave him twenty pounds. If I'd had any sense I would have knocked himdown instead; but it was an unpleasant story, and I was engaged toViolet. Godfrey Palliser was bent on the match too, though it wasn'tthat which influenced me. Then Davidson commenced to come for moneyregularly, and I can't get out of the fact that I've been subsidizinghim without perjury; while it's evident that if I told the truth nownobody would believe me. I tell you, Bernard, the thing has beenworrying the life out of me."
This was apparent from his strained voice and the dejection in his face,but Appleby smiled reassuringly. "You should have gone to a lawyer longago, Tony; but you can leave it to me," he said. "Davidson expects youto give him money to-night?"
"Yes. He makes me come out at midnight and meet him to show he holds thewhip over me. Thirty pounds--and I can only raise twenty--at half-pasteleven by the fir spinny! Have you the slightest hope of doing anythingwith him?"
Appleby nodded as he took out his watch. "I shouldn't wonder if I bringyou good news to-morrow. Remember, you are to say nothing to anybody.Give me what money you have and then go to sleep. You look as if youneeded it."
He took the notes Palliser handed him, and when he went away hung aboutthe head of the stairway until Violet Wayne came up with a white-hairedlady. He contrived to catch her eye, and though she passed on with hercompanion within five minutes she came back again.
"Well?" she said expectantly.
Appleby smiled. "If you can let me have ten pounds and ask no questionsI think it will be an excellent investment, though it is quite possiblethat I shall be able to hand you them back to-morrow," he said. "If Iwere a richer man I would not ask you."
The girl made a little gesture of impatience and flitted away, but in afew minutes she once more stood beside him, a trifle breathless, andthere was a crisp rustle, as she slipped something into his hand.
"Thank you ever so much! When you can you will tell me," she said.
Appleby only nodded, and went down the stairway. He took a riding cropfrom the rack in the hall, and then passed through the drawing-room intothe conservatory, the outer door of which was not fastened yet. Heopened it noiselessly and slipped out into the night, taking the keywith him; but, though he did not know this, a man who afterwardsremembered it saw him and noticed that he carried the riding crop.