An American Part 7

"My Son," he said, "my Son, compose yourself. I will brook no demonstration of vile anger from you. Estrella has been put beyond your power. I do not know," he went on, coolly, "just what it is that is upon your conscience at present, but I do know there is something that will not bear a close investigation by the authorities, and I advise you to have a care how you conduct yourself in the future. Cuba will have need of your strong arm and I hope that you will use it in her service."

Cowed by the sternness of the tone of voice in which he had been addressed as well as by his own guilty knowledge, Manuello, silently, and without thanks or regrets of any kind, left the refectory, slamming the door after him ... an indignity that few would dare to place upon their record; giving vent, inwardly, to the curses he did not dare to utter, he retraced his steps to his own home, intending to get what information he could from the other members of his family as to how Estrella went away; reaching his domicile, he, at once, began to ply his father, who had returned from his daily toil, with various inquiries, but found him not only uncommunicative but, apparently, also uninformed as to what had taken place during his absence; all that the other members of the family knew was that Father Felix had come hurriedly to the house and had a short conversation with Estrella when she had packed a few personal effects, of which, indeed, the poor girl had but few, and left the place, telling them she would see them again from time to time and leaving kind farewells for both himself and his father.

Then he remembered how intimate Estrella had always been with Tessa and decided his best course would be to go to her little friend, being well aware that any information she might have she would gladly give to him; he was hurrying along, intent upon this new hope of relief from his anxiety regarding the woman he imagined himself to be deeply in love with, when, all at once, he became aware that someone was following his footsteps, guardedly and yet with determination; immediately upon this knowledge, there stalked into the foreground of his consciousness the fear of discovery of his recent crime; the intimation of the Priest that he had suspected it had stirred within him the instinct of self-protection and he hastened his progress along the familiar and narrow street, hoping to out-distance his pursuer, whoever he might happen to be.

It seemed to him that he was succeeding in this last effort and he was congratulating himself upon his own celerity, when a hand was laid rather heavily upon his shoulder and a loud and insistent voice declared him to be the prisoner of the owner of it.

Instantly, Manuello became a beast of prey, cornered in its lair, and furious with all the animal instincts of self-preservation. He squirmed away from the heavy hand and whirled around to face his would-be captor and looked directly into the muzzle of a very capable gun held in steady hands that seemed well accustomed to its use.

"Up wid ye'er fists, ye dirty spalpeen ye!" commanded the man behind the gun, using his own rich native brogue in the excitement of the moment.

"Hould 'em right there ..." he went on, as Manuello, instinctively, though sullenly, obeyed him, "til I snap these putty bracelets on ye'er wrists!" fumbling in his pocket with one hand while he held the gun in the other, steadying it against his shoulder, for he had come prepared, knowing his prospective prisoner to be a desperate character. "There, now!" having completed his search and placed a handcuff on one of Manuello's wrists. "Up wid that one and over to its mate!"

But his prisoner was indeed a desperate man and did not intend to yield to arrest as easily as it had appeared, at first; raising the manacled wrist, he brought the steel bracelets down on the red head of the Irishman, felling him to the ground; then it was but the work of a moment to secure the loaded gun, and, after that, the tables were completely turned for Manuello immediately became the master of the situation; looking hastily about him to be sure that he was un.o.bserved, he was about to complete the utter defeat of the man who had given him such a terrific fright by beating his brains out with the clubbed gun, when he heard his own name spoken in a soft, low, scared voice; turning, he beheld little Tessa standing behind him.

"Oh, Manuello," she cried, breathing pantingly, "what has happened here?

Are you hurt? There is blood on your wrist ... and ..." here she stopped in consternation, "what else have you here?" for the Irishman had done, at least, a part of his work well, having locked the handcuff which the young man had almost forgotten he was wearing, "Take the hateful thing off, dear Manuello ... do take it off ... I don't like to see it on your wrist."

"Easier said than done, my dear little Girl!" declared the victim, smilingly. "But we can fix that somehow; in the meantime, we will let this fellow lay where he has fallen. Someone of his tribe will, likely, be along, soon, and they can take care of each other. Come along, Tessa, we will see what we can do with this piece of jewelry ... it is rather unwieldy ... I don't like the look of it."

The home of the young girl was not far distant and thither they repaired; after repeated efforts to file through or break the manacles, Tessa bethought herself of one possible method of releasing Manuello and acted upon her idea at once; running out upon the street she approached the place where the soldier had fallen, for he wore the uniform of the Spanish army, intending to feel in all of his pockets for a key that would unlock the handcuffs.

As she drew near to the spot she heard low voices and crept along in the shadow of the shrubbery that lined the narrow street until she was within ear-shot; then she realized that two more soldiers had joined their fallen comrade whom they had resuscitated, so that he was relating to them something of the circ.u.mstances that had led to his present plight:

"Ye see, b'ys," he was saying, "I wanted to arrist the spalpeen myself becase I think he is not only a revolutionist, but, also, a mhurderer ... a fella we arristed yesterday tould me that he thinks _this_ wan killed the leader of thim all ... seems he was jealous of him ... they both wanted the same ghirl...."

Tessa, realizing that her errand was useless, turned to go back silently, but the words she had heard had burned themselves into her brain, and when she was again beside Manuello he seemed far different to her than he had before; she found him almost crazy from fear of discovery as he had failed in all of his efforts to free himself from the device that had been placed upon his wrist.

"Did you get the key?" he demanded, almost fiercely. "Where is it? This cursed thing is almost killing me!"

Frightened at his expression and regretting her inability to help him, the girl began to cry, lifting her ap.r.o.n to her eyes to wipe away her tears; as she did so, the young man said to her, angrily:

"Well ... _stand_ there and cry while I am suffering ... you'll do a lot of good that way ... hustle out and see if you can't find some tool to get this thing off of me ... go to the village blacksmith and tell him some lie or other ... ask him how you can get an iron off your little sister's leg ... do something ... someone will come in and find me this way!"

"Even if they did, Manuello ... you are not under arrest ... the man don't know where you are, now; but I'll go and try to find some way to help you ... of course I will ..." said the generous-hearted girl, "I am _so_ sorry for you, and, now, that Estrella is gone...."

She hurried out, then, leaving the young fellow in no pleasant mood, for he had much to reflect upon and a pair of heavy handcuffs hanging to one wrist is not conducive to a man's happiness.

Tessa soon returned and had to report that her efforts in his behalf were, again, unsuccessful, for the blacksmith had only said:

"Bring the child to me and I will do what I can for her."

Manuello was, now, almost in despair and he was wise enough to know that cursing, while it might relieve his feelings to some extent, would not really help the situation, so he pulled his sleeve down as far as he could over the manacled wrist and proceeded to find out what he could concerning Estrella.

Tessa would have felt much freer than she did had she not remembered the words of the soldiers concerning the crime of which they suspected the young man, and only told him that Estrella had come running to her, that morning, and had told her that she was going away for a while but that she would see her again, soon.

Manuello had to content himself with this, hoping to find out more from Tessa within a day or so, and went away, divided between a desire to revenge himself upon the man who had tried to arrest him and self-congratulation upon his escape, but most of all he pondered how to get the hateful handcuffs from his wrist, for, besides being painful and unwieldly, he knew that they would attract attention to him.

CHAPTER X

Manuello was almost desperate regarding the manacles still clamped firmly on his wrist; it left his right hand free and he could use the fingers of the left hand, so he bound the wrist, placing the second handcuff above the one that was locked and laying it as close to the wrist as possible; he left his hand free as he could and simply told his family that he had cut the arm when engaged in practicing with the machete in the use of which weapon the Cuban insurgents were especially accomplished; this explanation of his supposed wound was sufficient and no one had any idea of the actual facts except Tessa and she was both too loyal to the young man and too frightened because of the reported crime he had committed to do anything but keep his secret inviolate; he depended upon her acknowledged affection for him and had no doubt that she would defend him if occasion required such a proceeding; his chief anxiety, at present, was to find out the where-abouts of Estrella, for he was of a fiery and pa.s.sionate nature and the disappearance of the girl but added to his desire for her.

On the morning after the accident he had sustained he started out with the determination to discover where Estrella had gone, for, as she had said that she would soon see his own family as well as little Tessa, he reasoned that she could not have gone very far away; so he began his search by climbing to the top of the hill behind the village, intending to try to locate her hiding-place by the simple method of checking off in his own mind impossible localities for concealment and then deciding which of the probable ones to investigate; having reached the point of vantage he wished, he began by cutting out the refectory ... then his own home ... then Tessa's dwelling-place ... then numerous small houses where he knew it would be practically impossible for another human being to be entertained in.

Just as he had reached this point in his revery, his attention was attracted to the mansion on the hill, and he began to observe, closely, the movements of every one who came to or went from the house; he did not really suspect that Estrella was there, but his mind wandered idly over the residences within his view and lighted upon the mansion on the hill as something different from the other dwellings he could see.

As he watched the gateway of Ruth Wakefield's residence, he noticed, emerging from it, old Mage whom he remembered as being there, in what he considered to be the capacity of an upper servant; he looked at the old woman because she happened to be in his line of vision and not because he had any curiosity concerning her movements; but the nature of the errand upon which she seemed to be bound not only surprised, but amused, him, for she carried in her hand a large basket of choice cut flowers, and, from time to time, as she walked along, she stooped to gather dried leaves that had fallen in the pathway with which she seemed trying to conceal the contents of her basket; she seemed satisfied, at last, and ceased to gather leaves, while she quickened her pace to a sort of slow amble which gait she maintained until she had pa.s.sed beyond Manuello's view; he wondered, idly, why she covered the flowers, and was about to move to a point which commanded a more perfect view of the pathway, when his attention was again attracted to the gateway of the Wakefield residence.

This time, it was quite a different person who appeared between the high stone pillars ... a tall woman, evidently young and active, plainly but serviceably dressed, stood, for a moment, shading her eyes with her hand from the glaring sunlight, peering down the pathway along which old Mage had just been walking; she remained in this position but a very short time, however, for she was, soon, joined by another woman who seemed as much interested as she had been in watching the pathway; as the two young creatures stood there, side by side, Manuello could not but remark upon the similarity of their forms and general appearance ... both were evidently strong and agile ... both seemed possessed of bounding health and youthful vigor; it seemed to him that one of the women looked more st.u.r.dy than the other one did, but, as she was wearing a wide and drooping hat, such as many of the natives of the Island were accustomed to wear, he could not see her face; as she approached the woman who had first appeared in the gateway, there was something in her manner that seemed familiar to the young fellow, and, as she put one hand, gently, on the other's shoulder, he, again, seemed to recognize something familiar in the movement; then she spoke, and, although he was too far away to hear her words, he knew the tones of her voice, and realized that his search for Estrella was ended.

As this knowledge was fully impressed upon him he cast about in his mind as to what method of procedure to take to bring about his desired end which was to see and talk with the girl, himself, as soon as possible; first, he thought to approach the house as a fruit-peddler, but put that thought aside as unlikely to attain his object ... then, he decided to spy around the place until he located Estrella's own room, intending to bring his guitar and sing under her window some native love-songs, hoping to impress upon her his undying affection and imagining that, now that Victorio was out of the way, his cause would be more likely to succeed than before.

He had started out to carry this intention into practice, leaving his original position among the heavy timber that skirted the hill, and going more into the open than before in order to more closely approach the house, when he became aware of another presence in the wooded section that he had just left; he could not make out just what this presence was ... his ideas concerning it were hazy and uncertain, but he felt sure that he was not alone and, now that he had left the timber, it seemed to him that the unknown presence was following close behind him; he turned sharply around but discovered nothing behind him and kept on in the direction he had been proceeding in, although his nerves were keyed up and ready to jump at the slightest sound; suddenly, directly in front of him, he heard a voice saying:

"Do not approach any nearer to her. If you insist upon doing so you must take the consequences which are freighted with bitter pain for you."

It seemed to Manuello that this voice was within himself and came from his own thoughts and, yet, it seemed, also, to be in the pathway ahead of him, separated from him and yet a part of him; he hesitated, as above everything else, the natives of Cuba are superst.i.tious and Manuello was no exception to this rule; his own criminal record, naturally, made him timid; besides, Estrella's evidently favored position as a member of the household of Ruth Wakefield elevated the girl in his estimation, for everyone in that neighborhood had great respect, amounting almost to veneration, for the inmates of the mansion on the hill.

The young man stopped in his progress toward the house and turned his attention, for an anxious moment, to his manacled wrist, which gave him a great deal of uneasiness and some suffering as well; as he held this wrist with his free right hand, he had his back toward the path that led down into the village, and was unaware of the nearness of Father Felix until the good Priest touched him on the elbow; wheeling round, instantly, he faced the only man he was not afraid to meet among his neighbors; for, although the Priest had told him he knew that he possessed a guilty secret, yet he, also was aware of Father Felix' usual kindness and protection exercised over his people, so that it was with a feeling of relief that he discovered who the new-comer was.

"My Son," said the Priest, "you are abroad early ... what news have you heard in the village, this morning?"

Manuello looked at him searchingly as if to discover why he asked him this question, wondering if he had heard of his own encounter of the evening before, but failing to gain any knowledge of the secret thoughts of the Priest, he said at random:

"Everything is about as usual, I guess ... nothing startling seems to have happened during the night."

"I heard," began Father Felix, "I heard that a soldier had been struck down by some marauder shortly after the time of your leaving my society, last night, and I thought you might have happened to be in the vicinity of the crime. By-the-way," he went on, solicitously, "what has happened to your left wrist?"

"Oh ... that!" said Manuello, carelessly. "That is simply a love token from the machete of a friend of mine while we were sparring for practice; as you said, last night, Cuba may have need of us fighting-men soon, and we wish to be ready to take our proper place when the time for action comes."

"Well, be careful of your weapons, my Son ... save your steel for your enemies and those of your native land."

Speaking in this manner, the good Priest pursued his journey up the hill and disappeared within the gateway where Manuello had, only very recently, seen Estrella standing with the mistress of the mansion; he decided, under the existing circ.u.mstances, to retrace his steps toward the village, contenting himself with the thought that he now knew where Estrella was; he thought that he might as well impart this information to little Tessa, and, also, he wanted to find out whether she had heard anything more about his encounter with the soldier on the street, also if she had thought of any way whereby he might be freed from the manacles which became more and more distressing and uncomfortable.

With this thought in his mind, he was approaching Tessa's home when he was intercepted by the very individual he meant to inquire about.

"What the divil!" exclaimed the Irishman. "Sky-larking by daylight _this_ toime, me foine high-way-mon?"

Manuello had drawn back, prepared to again bring the hated handcuffs down upon the poll of the man before him, if he offered any indignities, when he was surprised to notice a wheedling tone in the voice of his opponent of the evening before.

"Indade, mon," began the soldier, "I am in need of those putty bracelets I gave ye, last night; a prisint like them is not bestowed ivry day, I tell yees. The only thanks ye give me was a crack on me head wid em which took away but little of me sinse as I had but little in the beginning.... I might have known betther than to have tackled a foine, up-standin' fella like yees, single-handed. Yer a foine figure of a mon, me Frind, and I'd like mighty well to serve be the side of ye ... how would it _do_, now, fer ye to enlist in the arrmy and give me back me bracelets if I spake a good worrd fer ye wid me Captain?"

Manuello looked at him in surprise, but, seeing a chance to get rid of the hateful manacles, decided to agree to the proposition of the other, at least for the time being.

"All right," he acquiesced, "go ahead and take these cursed thing off me, first, and then tell me where you want me to go."